Black PRAISE: engaging Black congregations to strengthen critical awareness of HIV affecting Black Canadian communities

Abstract

<jats:title>Summary</jats:title> <jats:p>In Canada, HIV disproportionately affects Black communities. Though Black faith leaders play an influential role engaging Black communities around social care and social justice, their response to HIV has been somewhat muted. Black PRAISE is a novel intervention for Black churches to strengthen congregants’ critical awareness of HIV affecting Black communities. A multi-stakeholder team developed and tested the intervention in 2016 − 17 among six churches in the province of Ontario, where more than half of Black Canadians reside, using a community-based participatory approach. Specifically, the intervention aimed to strengthen how congregants understand HIV among Black communities and reduce their level of stigma toward people living with HIV. We addressed critical awareness among the participating congregations through (i) disseminating a booklet with validated information that promoted critical health literacy related to HIV; (ii) enabling pastors to deliver a sermon on love, compassion and social justice; and (iii) developing and screening a short film that featured Black Canadians discussing their experiences of HIV-related stigma. We assessed changes in knowledge and stigma by surveying congregants (N = 173) at baseline and two follow-ups using validated instruments and other measures. Through Black PRAISE, congregants significantly increased their HIV-related knowledge; moreover, exposure to all the intervention components was associated with a significantly reduced level of stigma. A likely strategic outcome of Black PRAISE is that churches are empowered to help strengthen Black people’s community-based response to HIV and join efforts to eliminate the structural conditions that increase Black people’s vulnerability to HIV.</jats:p>

Immigrant generational status and the uptake of HIV screening services among heterosexual men of African descent in Canada: Evidence from the weSpeak study

“…The positive protective effect of religion on HIV testing whereby Christians were more likely to test for HIV is consistent with findings by Berkley-Patton et al. (2010) and Husbands et al., 2021 . In a related study Sanchez et al.…”

“You have to make it cool”: How heterosexual Black men in Toronto, Canada, conceptualize policy and programs to address HIV and promote health

“…First, Black men will be socialized to discuss their health including sexual health at younger age that can normalize health discussions with other family members and professionals. Second, normalizing health discussions on sexual health and HIV provides a useful platform to reducing HIV stigma and increasing testing [44,45].…”