Title: Call for Abstracts 2005

Author:

Section/SPIG: HIV/AIDS

Issue Date:

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The HIV/AIDS Section invites Abstracts and Full Session Proposals presenting the results of scientific research, program evaluations, and community-based interventions related to HIV/AIDS for the 133rd American Public Health Association Meeting and Exposition to be held on Nov. 5-9, 2005 in New Orleans. The theme of the 2005 meeting is Evidence Based Policy and Practice, and Abstracts and Full Session Proposals that reflect this theme are particularly encouraged.

Abstracts may be submitted for oral, poster, or roundtable sessions. The following general topics are areas of interest for the 2005 program, although other HIV/AIDS-related topics also will be accepted for sessions:

• Behavioral, Psychosocial, and Cultural Aspects of HIV/AIDS (e.g., health education, health communication, sexual behavior, social environment)
• Community Planning, Programming, and Interventions
• Economic, Policy, and Financing Analyses
• Epidemiology and Surveillance
• Health Care Delivery, Services, and Providers
• Innovative Research Methods and Interventions
• International HIV Prevention and Care Policies, Interventions, Evaluations, and Studies
• Medication Access, Adherence, and Adverse Effects
• Mental Health and Substance Use (e.g., depression, severe mental illness, drug abuse aspects)
• Other HIV/AIDS Topic Areas
• Populations Living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, adolescents, aging, LBGT, co-infected with hepatitis C, homeless, incarcerated, rural, veterans, women)
• Prevention Research and Practice
• Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation for Prevention, Treatment and/or Care
• Research on Positive Living (e.g., complementary therapies, nutrition, exercise, workplace, sexuality)
• Student Work

Submission and Review: All Abstracts must be submitted electronically using the APHA Web site by Feb. 8, 2005. Late, fax and e-mail submissions cannot be accepted. APHA will send e-mail notices of acceptance or rejection to abstract authors by June 1, 2005.

All Abstracts are subject to masked peer review by at least three reviewers. Please remove any references to a specific institution in the body of the abstract to permit masked review and ensure fairness. By submitting an abstract proposal, the author(s) agree that, if accepted, the paper will be presented as scheduled.

Structured Abstract Format: Abstracts should be submitted in a structured format. Please use one of the following two formats:

• Background: study objectives, hypothesis, or a description of the problem.
• Methods: study design, including a description of participants, procedures, measures, and appropriate statistical analyses.
• Results: specific results in summary form.
• Conclusions: description of the main outcome of the study.
An alternative format, suited for abstracts about policy, programs, interventions, and other types of research evaluations, may be used:
• Issues: a short summary of the issue(s) addressed by authors.
• Description: description of the project, experience, service, or advocacy program.
• Lessons Learned: a brief description of the results of the project.
• Recommendations: a brief statement of next steps.

Review Criteria: Standardized criteria will be used to evaluate all abstract submissions. These criteria include innovation and relevance, approach/methodology, contribution to science and/or practice, and results/lessons learned.

Final Program: The final program will be based on peer-reviewer evaluations of the abstract proposals with consideration for available time and space, the program theme, diversity of topics, and any speakers invited by the HIV/AIDS Section leadership to participate in the 2005 program.

Only listed authors who are both APHA members and registered for the Annual Meeting may present accepted work. Neither APHA nor the HIV/AIDS Section provides any financial support for author attendance at the Annual Meeting.

Student Presentations: Presentations by students are encouraged. Although completed research studies are preferred, students may submit work-in-progress for consideration.
Instructions for Full Session Proposals:

Submissions of Proposals For Full Sessions (90 minutes in length) may be submitted. In addition to the electronic online submission of an individual abstract for EACH of the 3-5 papers to be included in a Session, a one-page overview of the proposed Session MUST be submitted directly to the planner via electronic mail to: <SRhodes@WFUBMC.Edu>. This one-page overview should include:

• Overall session title
• Name of the lead facilitator and the contact person for the Session
• Brief overview of the rationale for the Session
• List (in presentation order) of the individual abstracts to be organized into this Session, complete with titles and time allocated for each presentation and any discussion periods.

Please note that each individual abstract to be included in a Session must be submitted through the APHA electronic abstract submission process. In the "Comments to Organizers" box for each abstract submission, the authors should indicate that the abstract is to be considered as part of the Proposed Session (indicated by Session title).

All abstracts are reviewed on their individual merit, and the acceptance of a panel submission is not a guarantee that all abstracts submitted for that session will be accepted or that they will all be scheduled together. Unless instructed otherwise, the HIV/AIDS Section Program Committee will consider the individual abstracts from any rejected Full Session for possible presentation in Abstract sessions. Therefore, an abstract submitted as part of a Full Session should not also be submitted as an individual contributed abstract to any other section, interest group or caucus.

Questions: For questions about submissions or the Annual Meeting, please contact the 2005 HIV/AIDS Section Program Chair, Scott D. Rhodes, at <SRhodes@WFUBMC.edu> or (336)713-5080.

Program Planner Contact Information:

Scott D. Rhodes, PhD, MPH, CHES
Department of Public Health Sciences
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Section on Social Sciences and Health Policy
Medical Center Boulevard
Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1063
Phone: (336) 713-5080
Fax: (336) 713-5088
srhodes@wfubmc.edu

and

Michael Reece, PhD, MPH
Department of Applied Health Science
Indiana University
Bloomington IN 47405
(812) 855-0068
mireece@indiana.edu

and

Scott R. Smith, RPh, PhD
Center for Outcomes & Evidence
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 427-1511
ssmith@ahrq.gov