Abstract
BackgroundTo investigate whether religious service attendance and faith leaders’ messages about HIV and same-sex relationships are associated with acceptance of HIV prevention strategies.MethodsMultivariable Poisson regression assessed whether attending religious services, faith leaders’ messages about HIV and same-sex relationships, and supportiveness of those messages were associated with HIV testing, as well as knowledge of and willingness to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among 868 Black Americans [45% men; M (SD) = 34 (9) years-old] in the 2016 National Survey on HIV in the Black Community, USA.ResultsParticipants who reported attending services monthly and/or hearing faith leaders’ messages that were supportive of same-sex relationships had a significantly higher likelihood of willingness to use PrEP (adjusted Rate Ratio[ARR] = 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09, 2.48) and aRR = 2.19; 95% CI = 1.35, 3.55, respectively), independent of HIV risk. Homophobia was significantly associated with higher likelihood of being aware of PrEP and testing for HIV testing in the past 12 months.ConclusionsFaith leaders’ messaging can influence Black Americans’ perceptions and uptake of HIV prevention strategies. Faith institutions and faith leaders should be involved in designing and disseminating HIV prevention strategies.
Highlights
To investigate whether religious service attendance and faith leaders’ messages about HIV and same-sex relationships are associated with acceptance of HIV prevention strategies
Black American faith leaders play important roles in shaping individual’s attitudes and social norms about HIV, and faith leaders are willing to engage in HIV prevention programs and research [11,12,13]
Given the importance of faith leaders messaging in relation to health behaviors including those that relate to HIV, this study investigated the role of religious service attendance and faith leaders messaging in association with awareness and willingness to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV
Summary
To investigate whether religious service attendance and faith leaders’ messages about HIV and same-sex relationships are associated with acceptance of HIV prevention strategies. HIV infection remains a significant public health problem for Black Americans in the United States (US). Black Americans represent 13% of the US population, yet compared to white people, accounted for 45% of new HIV infections (rate of 44.3 vs 5.3 per 100,000) and 53% of deaths attributed to HIV (rate of 17.4 vs 2.4 per 100,000) in 2015 [1]. Though Black individuals do not engage in higher risk behaviors than people of other races or Religion is broadly defined as an organized system of beliefs, rituals, symbols, and lifestyles [5]. Higher HIV testing rates have been noted among those who are more religiously involved [8]
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