About Us
The AIDS Education and Training Centers' National Evaluation Center (AETC NEC) provides evaluation development and technical support to the national AIDS Education and Training Centers program, a network of eleven regional centers conducting targeted, multidisciplinary education and training programs for healthcare providers treating persons living with HIV. Through a national network of more than 130 local performance sites (LPSs) and four national centers, the AETCs target training to providers who serve minority populations, the homeless, rural communities, incarcerated persons, community and migrant health centers, and Ryan White Program-funded sites.
The AETC NEC is led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the AIDS Policy Research Center (APRC) within the AIDS Research Institute (ARI) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In collaboration with the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration HIV/AIDS Bureau (HRSA HAB) the specific aims of the AETC NEC are:
1. Development
Design and conduct rigorous evaluation research across AETC regions and national centers that will: measure the effectiveness and impact of training and education on clinical practice; uncover barriers/challenges to applying new knowledge and skills; and have maximum impact on evaluation practice and policy across the AETC network.
2. Capacity Building
Stimulate innovative evaluation projects and ensure scientific excellence by developing, designing and implementing outcome evaluation projects collaboratively in each region across the AETC network, as well as the organizational capacity to ensure integrity and quality of evaluation research.
3. Replication
Enhance evaluation across the network by adapting proven methods for measuring AETC clinical training outcomes and applying them across local performance sites, regions and national centers.
4. Support
Provide methodological (both quantitative and qualitative) evaluation research design consultation and technical support to AETC regional and national centers as they implement innovative tools and best practices for measuring training outcomes.
5. Dissemination
Disseminate findings from evaluation projects so that they have optimum impact on further HIV clinical education and training programs.