Engaging Community Businesses in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention: A Feasibility Study.

Purpose. To explore the feasibility of engaging community businesses in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention. Design. Randomly selected business owners/managers were asked to display discreetly wrapped condoms and brochures, both of which were provided free-of-charge for 3 months. Assessments were conducted at baseline, mid- program, and post-program. Customer feed back was obtained through an online survey. Setting. Participants were selected from a San Diego, California neighborhood with a high rate of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Participants. Fifty-one business owners/managers who represented 10 retail categories, and 52 customers. Measures. Participation rates, descriptive characteristics, number of condoms and brochures distributed, customer feedback, business owners'/managers' program satisfaction, and business owners'/managers' willingness to provide future support for HIV prevention were measured. Analysis. Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, Fisher's exact, and McNemar's tests were used to analyze data. Results. The 20 business owners/managers (39%) who agreed to distribute condoms and brochures reported fewer years in business and more employees than those who agreed only to distribute brochures (20%) or who refused to participate (41 %; p < .05). Bars were the easiest of ten retail categories to recruit. Businesses with more employees and customers distributed more condoms and brochures (p < .05). More than 90% of customers supported distributing condoms and brochures in businesses, and 96% of business owners/managers described their program experience as positive. Conclusion. Businesses are willing to distribute condoms and brochures to prevent HIV. Policies to increase business participation in HIV prevention should be developed and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]