Public health and church-based constructions of HIV prevention: black Baptist perspective

Abstract

The black church is influential in shaping health behaviors within African-American communities, yet few use evidence-based strategies for HIV prevention (abstinence, monogamy, condoms, voluntary counseling and testing, and prevention with positives

Engaging religious leaders to support HIV prevention and care for gays, bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men in coastal Kenya

“…In line with several other studies that have shown that working closely and collaboratively with religious leaders is successful for HIV prevention and care (Duff & Buckingham, 2015 ; Obong’o, Pichon, Powell, & Williams, 2016 ; Roman Isler, Eng, Maman, Adimora, & Weiner, 2014 ; Szaflarski et al, 2013 ; Taegtmeyer et al, 2013 ; Williams, Palar, & Derose, 2011 ; Willms et al, 2011 ), engagement interventions presented in this paper indicate that when religious leaders reflexively (re)position themselves, changes in views regarding homosexuality can emerge. Our findings, therefore, contribute to existing literature by demonstrating that on-going engagement processes, respectful work, and collaboration in an openly violent environment can generate a more accepting discourse of GBMSM.…”

Understanding Cancer Screening Service Utilization by Somali Men in Minnesota

“…This may be effective because the Mosque already acts as a vector for non-health related information and the community has already established trust with those in charge of the Mosques. Similar methods have already been shown to be effective in other minority populations (e.g., church-based interventions in the African American population) [40, 41]. …”

The Role of Religious Socialization and Religiosity in African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents’ Sexual Initiation

“…Specifically, study findings demonstrate the protective roles of religious socialization and religiosity in delaying sexual initiation and support the inclusion of both religious organizational involvement (faith-placed) and religious contextualization (faith-based) in interventions to delay adolescent sexual initiation among black adolescents. Finally, due to conservatism and stigma, black churches are often resistant and ambivalent about addressing issues of sexual abstinence (Coyne-Beasley and Schoenbach 2000; Woods-Jaeger et al 2014), although some have begun discussions of sexual health with their adolescent and adult congregants (Isler et al 2014; Stewart and Thompson 2015; Woods-Jaeger et al 2014). It is important to acknowledge that stigmatizing messages about sexuality from faith communities may leave adolescents ill-equipped to negotiate and make decisions in sexual situations.…”