Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington's Prevention Insights Celebrates Five Years of Preventive Work in Northwest Indiana

Knowledge 4 Life has brought together hundreds of volunteers and community members to prevent HIV and hepatitis through outreach and testing.

Since receiving a 2016 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Prevention Insights at Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington (IUSPHB) has collaborated with the Northwest Indiana Health Department Cooperative to deliver "Knowledge 4 Life" (KFL).

Created to support prevention, testing, and counseling in the Indiana cities of Gary, East Chicago, Hammond, and Lake Station, the initiative includes "Color it Real" (CIR). This 12-hour program, which enrolled nearly 700 young adults age 18 to 25, is designed to increase awareness of the relationship between substance use and HIV. According to a 2021 article in SAGE Open, the CIR curriculum led to "significant differences in [participant] attitudes" toward high-risk behavior and better understanding of disease presentation and prevention.

IUSPH-B Associate Professor Jon Agley, one of the architects of K4L, explains, "Participants who attended most or all of the sessions reported fairly large differences, comparing before and after the program, in terms of how risky they thought it was to, for example, have sex while high or drunk, or to binge drink."

Dr. Roland Walker, Executive Director of the Northwest Indiana Health Department Cooperative and Health Commissioner for the city of Gary, notes: "Through our partnership with the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, we have been able to build tremendous capacity for change, with over 125 adults trained to serve the community in areas like rapid HIV testing and motivational interviewing."

Established in 1987 to support prevention professionals in the areas of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD), Prevention Insights now reinforces efforts to improve services for people who engage in problem gambling, experience mental health issues, or are at risk of contracting HIV. According to their website, their "primary audience includes healthcare organizations, schools, and governmental agencies across the country."

Walker adds, "This program has been a great example of how a research university and a community can work together to advance common causes, and I am hopeful that we will be able to continue our collaboration into the future."

Additional K4L contributors include Albert Gay and Rosemary King, research associates at Prevention Insights; Kelly Horne at the Northwest Indiana Health Department Cooperative; and Nina Johnson of the Community Advisory Board. Wasantha Jayawardene, assistant research scientist at Prevention Insights, and Yunyu Xiao, assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, serve as analysts.

To learn more about Prevention Insights, visit prevention.iu.edu. News about IUSPH-B is always available at go.iu.edu/48bx.