Value of having an official role
AIDS
AIDS
Community Navigators reported that having official titles and roles that were linked to well‐known and well‐respected institutions (i.e., Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Triad Health Project, an established AIDS service organization in Greensboro, North Carolina), and having received formal training through these institutions, provided a sense of reassurance that helped to facilitate relationship building with members of their communities. As a consequence, Navigators felt more confident in their knowledge about sexual health and social determinants and perceived that they were more trusted to talk with others within the community about sensitive health topics. In addition, Community Navigators highlighted the importance of having a badge indicating their role in the intervention and emphasized that receiving a stipend for their time furthered their sense of legitimacy and validated the work they performed to assist their communities.