Table 1.

Stakeholder Process for Intervention Development

Phase	Type of participants	No. of participants	Objectives	Products
Phase 1	Representatives from local organizations involved in health promotion, health research, and provincial/local administration	34	Review the qualitative findings together and brainstorm on needed modifications to existing protocols for home visits and CHTC	Recommendations: the need for male partner consent and notification regarding upcoming home visits, avoiding jumping too quickly to the topic of HIV during the home visits, the need to involve key community gatekeepers, and how to craft community messaging to encourage study recruitment and retention. Stakeholders also recommended that the home visitors have good command of the cultural and social aspects of the community to communicate with and understand the couples, and also be competent in communication and HIV counseling and testing.
Phase 2	Local community organizers and health workers, HIV clinicians, and a representative of the local Ministry of Health team	5	Get feedback on and refine the study manual that had been drafted for the pilot randomized controlled trial phase of the study	The team provided guidance on the study manual, including additional health topics to be included in the home visits, namely water and sanitation, birthing plans, immunization, HIV risk reduction and HIV retesting (including infant testing), and linkage to care.
Phase 3	Local community members (chiefs, village elders, community health workers, and representatives of local community organizations) at the two initial study locations	30	Elucidate the best approaches for community entry and dissemination of information about the study	Recommendations were made regarding protecting confidentiality of study participants; fair distribution of study participation; socially acceptable features of a home visitor; how to deal with tricky situations such as polygamous marriages, miscarriages, and couple separations; appropriate length of time for a home visit; and an acceptable name for the study.

CHTC, couple HIV testing and counseling; MOO, Manual of Operations.