Practicing What Is Preached: Congregational Characteristics Related to Hiv Testing Behaviors and Hiv Discussions Among Black Women

Abstract

Through the current analysis, we aimed to better understand the relationship between congregational support and HIV prevention behaviors among a sample of high risk, HIV negative Black women. Participants were 434 Black women who were at high risk for contracting HIV through heterosexual sex. They were recruited from a city in the Mid Atlantic Region. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and Audio-Computer-Assisted Self-Interviews (ACASI). Results revealed three congregational characteristics were important for Black women's comfort level discussing HIV and their likelihood of returning for their HIV test results: feeling loved by their congregation, having ministries that helped people with their problems and feeling listened to by their congregation. Thus, religious congregational support was a significant correlate of Black women's comfort discussing HIV prevention and treatment as well as their motivation to return to get their HIV test results.

“Let Me Help You Help Me”: Church-Based HIV Prevention for Young Black Men Who Have Sex With Men

“…Open dialogue within churches may increase HIV knowledge and improve access to social support for prevention and care. Study findings also echo the need for churches to integrate sexual health into the discussion of total health (Williams, Pichon, Latkin & Davey-Rothwell, 2014), both for YBMSM and other congregants. Ultimately, our results support a tiered approached to providing more inclusive church-based HIV prevention efforts.…”

Correlates of HIV Testing among African American and Latino Church Congregants: The Role of HIV Stigmatizing Attitudes and Discussions about HIV

“…Results indicated that feeling supported by one's congregation and going to a church with ministries that helped people with their problems were associated with comfort discussing HIV prevention and treatment in church. 43 Other research has examined communication about HIV in non-faith-based, high-prevalence settings, finding that individuals seek out social sources of information about HIV via informal conversations with social network members in order to assess their own personal risk. 44,45 These studies did not directly examine HIV-related discussions and HIV testing behaviors, although they suggest that such discussions may prompt individuals to engage in preventive behaviors.…”

Factors Associated with African American Women’s Sexual Health and Risk Behavior: A Mixed Methods Study

“…Despite these women's obvious stated devotion to God, these women described engaging in behaviors that may not have been congruent with their religious beliefs. Currently, both research and clinical practice have begun to explore the role of faith-based organizations in STI and HIV prevention for AAW (Stewart, 2014;T. Williams et al, 2014;Wingood et al, 2013).…”

“…Other facets of religiosity were addressed in two studies as being culturally congruent variables contributing to the improvement of AAW's sexual health and risk behavior (T. Williams et al, 2016;T. Williams, Pichon, Latkin, & Davey-Rothwell, 2014).…”

“…One research study conducted by Williams, Pichon, Davey-Rothwell, and Latkin (2014) assessed 434 high risk AAW to determine the relationship between having the emotional support of women's church congregation and their participation in behaviors designed to reduce sexual risk and prevent HIV. Study results suggest that AAW who felt loved or listened to by their church congregation or belonged to congregations with ministries or groups that they felt were helpful in addressing their problems experienced greater comfort discussing HIV prevention in church and were more likely to follow-up on HIV testing to obtain results (T. Williams et al, 2014). In a similar study, these researchers investigated the relationship between church attendance and women's discussion of topics related to sexual health.…”