The Story about Toni, Mike, and Valerie
was a labor of love and commitment
to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The videos you are about to watch are based on true stories told by women in Newark and Jersey City. Groups were held to hear women describe their heartfelt issues about their relationships with men. What emerged are stories about struggle, strength, and survival.

In fact, so many women knew how to stop HIV/AIDS that their ideas became the basis of the video, as the lead characters engaged in their own process of dynamic change and discovered their power.

The videos appearing on this website were the result of a pilot research project, completed in 2006, and funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research and the National Library of Medicine. We gratefully acknowledge their support of this work.

We are currently producing an expanded soap opera video series that centers on the stories of four women and their male partners. This will be distributed as a 12-part soap opera series to be viewed on personal cell phones.  Production of this series is funded by the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

We will be studying the effect of the soap opera video series with a four year grant by the National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health.

More information about the pilot project and the upcoming programs are also on this website.

The stories were written by Rachel Jones, PhD, RN and Marsha Oliver, MS, RN. The script was written by a team of dedicated writers and actors.

The fight against HIV/AIDS begins with RESPECT for women and SISTER POWER. Please enjoy and send us your thoughts.