The GOALS Approach was developed by Sarit A. Golub, PhD, MPH, in collaboration with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of HIV.

How was GOALS developed?

The GOALS Approach was developed in 2019 by Sarit A. Golub, PhD, MPH. The development of this framework was informed by:

  1. A meta-analytic review of articles published from 1999 -2019 about sexual history taking

  2. Key-informant interviews with adult and adolescent providers representing both public and private hospitals, as well as community-based clinics

  3. A comprehensive review of 35 curricula/training videos

  4. A focused literature review of research regarding key sexual history components and goals

  5. An iterative design and development process based on Collaborative Institutes with over 45 providers from 20 practice settings in NYC

Who is using GOALS?

PlaySure Network 2.0 for HIV Prevention encourages providers to use the GOALS Approach when taking a sexual history.

Use of the GOALS Approach is recommended to implement the
New York City Ending the Epidemic Plan and New York City 2020: Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America Plan

In this webinar from the University of Cinicinnati College of Nursing, Jan Stockton, MSN, RN, AACRN, ACNS, disucsses the GOALS Approach.

The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute recommends the GOALS Approach as part of their Clinical Guidelines Program.

About Sarit Golub

Sarit A. Golub, PhD, MPH, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). She received her MPH from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and her PhD in Social Psychology from Harvard University. Dr. Golub directs the Hunter Alliance for Research & Translation (HART), whose mission is to translate research findings into practical implications for service and advocacy organizations, accelerating the pace of equitable, just, empirically-based practice. She is also Co-Director of the Behavioral and Implementation Science Core of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research (ERC-CFAR).

Dr. Golub has been awarded over $20 million in research funding from NIH, CDC, and other federal agencies, and her research-practice partnerships use scientific collaboration as a lever for health equity, focusing on development and evaluation of novel strategies to decrease stigma, increase access, empower patients and improve sexual health. Her research has been at the forefront of innovation in the rollout of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and her scholarship has been instrumental in moving the field of HIV and sexual health more broadly away from risk-focused, stigmatizing language toward more person-centered, affirming, and psychologically motivating communication strategies.Dr. Golub conducts community-based implementation research and training in collaboration with health departments, training institutes, and capacity building programs across the United States.