Building the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program bench in Kentucky: inspiring sustainability

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS program (RWHAP) is governed by legislative and programmatic guidelines that ensure comprehensive services are provided to persons with HIV (PWH) across the United States. Comprehensive training and skill building opportunities for programmatic staff are rare. RWHAP funding recipient organizations may struggle to acquire and retain essential program-specific knowledge, with downstream impact on patient care and treatment.We designed a comprehensive 11-session videoconference learning series to improve program staff's confidence and competence with RWHAP fundamentals. Quantitative pre-vs-post session data were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests, and qualitative data using thematic analysis.We enrolled 136 staff from 23 organizations in the southeastern United States with ≥1 ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) jurisdiction; 94.1% (n = 128) worked in Kentucky. We observed post-session improvement in self-reported knowledge, confidence in ability to apply knowledge and perform job functions, and skill after each session. Post-session and end-of-series survey responses indicated that participants were satisfied with the series (mean 8.5/10.0), and that it met their learning needs.This program allowed participants to gain comprehensive understanding of the RWHAP programmatic and legislative guidelines, promoted effective and compliant program management, supported staff's learning needs, and will equip participating organizations to optimize service delivery and patient outcomes.