WILLOW

Request Classroom Training

To request that a classroom training be scheduled, please submit a training request through the Capacity Building Assistance (CBA) Tracking System (CTS).

Register for and Take Training

To register for scheduled classroom sessions or access eLearning modules, please visit CDC TRAIN and access the HIV CBA Learning Group and Training Plan.

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About WILLOW

Women Involved in Life Learning from Other Women (WILLOW) is a social-skills building and educational intervention for adult women living with HIV. It consists of 4 four-hour sessions that are delivered by two trained adult female facilitators, one of whom is living with HIV.

The small group sessions consist of eight to 10 women living with HIV and are conducted in a community-based setting. WILLOW informs women about identifying and maintaining supportive social networks, teaches coping strategies to reduce life stressors, enhances awareness of sexually transmitted disease (STD) transmission and HIV risk behaviors, teaches communication skills for negotiating safer sex, reinforces proper and consistent condom use, distinguishes between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and defines types of abusive relationships and their effect on a woman’s ability to negotiate safer sex practices.

Intervention Goals

• To reduce STDs and HIV transmission risk behaviors among women living with HIV by fostering self and gender pride, social support, increased HIV and STD knowledge, self-efficacy for relationship management, safer sex practices and attitudes, and stress management and reduction.
• To encourage a lifelong commitment to HIV care, treatment, medication adherence, and living well with HIV.

Intervention Core Elements

• Conduct small group interactive sessions that are supportive and meet the goals of the intervention.
• Implement WILLOW with heterosexual women 18 years or older who have HIV, have known their HIV serostatus for at least 90 days, in settings that offer services to women with HIV.
• Use two skilled, adult, female facilitators to implement WILLOW sessions. It is strongly recommended that at least one of the facilitators has HIV and is open and comfortable about discussing her status.
• Use materials that are gender and culturally appropriate to foster self-worth and self-efficacy.
• Train women in coping, decision making, goal setting, condom negotiation, and proper condom use skills, all of which are supportive of safer sexual behaviors.
• Teach women about HIV stigma and disclosure, self-acceptance, self-care, social support networks, STD and HIV information, and consistent and proper condom use to support their decision-making about enhancing quality of life, sexual health, and HIV care issues.
• Inform women about aspects of healthy and unhealthy relationships and types of abuse as related to the negotiation of safer sexual practices and HIV self-care and treatment.
• Educate women to be actively involved in their own HIV care, treatment, and adherence in order to establish a long-term goal of living well with HIV.
• Use an educational and informational focus in the sessions as opposed to a counseling and services provision focus.

Target Population

Heterosexual women of any race or ethnicity with HIV or AIDS ages 18 years and older who have known their HIV serostatus for at least 90 days.

WILLOW Training

This training has two components:

1. 3-hour pre-course webinar
2. 4-day in-person classroom training

Prerequisites for the WILLOW classroom training include:

• Proof of small group facilitation experience;
• Proof of HIV 101 certification;
• Completed pre-implementation worksheets; and
• Confirmed participation in the pre-course webinar.

During the classroom training, the participants will:

• Present pre-implementation findings (must complete in advance);
• Learn overview of WILLOW;
• Discuss key components of the intervention;
• Observe activities as they are modeled;
• Participate in a fishbowl exercise;
• Practice presenting activities from the different sessions; and
• Conduct a teach-back of an assigned activity.

To view and register for scheduled classroom trainings:

1. Access the National HIV Classroom Learning Center training calendar hosted on Cicatelli Associates, Inc.’s (CAI’s) website.
2. Pre-register for your selected course via the link provided in the training calendar.
3. Complete your registration on CDC TRAIN as directed when you receive an email from the National HIV Classroom Learning Center. You must join the HIV CBA Learning Group and locate the HIV CBA Training Plan in order to complete your CDC TRAIN registration for a specific classroom session (step-by-step instructions are available).

To access eLearning modules, including classroom training prerequisite courses:

1. Log-in to CDC TRAIN and access the HIV CBA Training Plan (step-by-step instructions are available).
2. Select the module you wish to take.
3. Launch the module or save the module for later.

To request that a classroom training be scheduled:

1. CDC’s directly funded health department and CBO partners may request delivery of a CDC-supported training by submitting a request in the CBA Tracking System.
2. Organizations not directly funded by CDC may contact their local health department for assistance in submitting a training request.

If you have questions or need additional assistance, please contact RequestCDCTraining@caiglobal.org or HIVCBA@cdc.gov.

Implementation and Marketing Materials

Materials and resources that support the implementation of WILLOW are coming soon.