Individual and Organizational Characteristics of Effective Frontline Practitioner Performance: A Study of Los Angeles County HIV Testing Organizations

Abstract

The authors examine the strategic contributions of three Frontline Practitioner (FP) attributes for effective HIV testing: risk assessment use, having specialized HIV training, and organizational test setting (nonprofit, for profit, and public). Data from 621 staff in 159 organizations in Los Angeles County are used to model individual and organizational correlates and use of risk assessment and measures of effective performance (volume of HIV tests, HIV-seropositive tests, and referrals to treatment). FPs with specialized training in HIV care situated in nonprofit outpatient clinics are more likely to use risk assessment. Nonprofit outpatient clinics, FPs with specialized training in HIV, and risk assessment use are associated with higher HIV test volume. FPs with specialized HIV training in nonprofit outpatient settings offer testing/counseling services qualitatively different from FPs in other settings.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV testing
• risk assessment
• frontline practitioner
• nonprofit