Communicating HIV/AIDS Through African American Churches in North Carolina: Implications and Recommendations for HIV/AIDS Faith-Based Programs

Abstract

This study explores HIV/AIDS communication strategies among church leaders at predominately African American churches in a metropolitan city and surrounding areas in North Carolina. The church leaders contacted for the study are members of an interfaith-based HIV/AIDS program. The researchers used semi-standardized interviews to explore how church leaders address HIV/AIDS in the church. The findings indicate that the seven church leaders who participated in the study use a variety of communication channels to disseminate HIV/AIDS information for congregants and their surrounding communities, which include both interpersonal and mass media.

Barriers and Facilitators to Providing HIV-Related Services in Bostonian African American Churches: A Focus Group Study of Clergy and Community Members

“…These leaders can instill feelings by persons living with HIV that support from God is important to their lives, especially in times of difficulty. Like Moore et al (2010), we found that many religious leaders were committed to providing a caring environment for people with or at risk for HIV=AIDS. In addition, many focus group participants expressed wanting and needing that safe space, citing the presence of God and religion as sources of the kind of support and care that they needed to take better care of themselves.…”

“…Religious involvement has been found to be associated with lowered levels of distress (Prado et al, 2004;Simoni & Ortiz, 2003) and increased physical health and long-term survival (Ironson & Kremer, 2009;Morse et al, 2000), among people living with HIV=AIDS. For these reasons, public health officials and religious leaders have begun to work together to implement faith-based approaches to reduce HIV=AIDS and respond to the needs of people living with the virus (Francis & Liverpool, 2009;Moore, Onsomu, Timmons, Abuya, & Moore, 2010).…”

“…For example, two integral components of faith-based HIV=AIDS responses are the attitudes of clergy and other religious leaders towards HIV service provision, and the interest of community members in receiving these services. Relatively few studies document religious leaders' beliefs or needs, however (Carter-Edwards, Jallah, Goldmon, Roberson, & Hoyo, 2006;Griffith, Campbell, Allen, Robinson, & Stewart, 2010;Moore, Onsomu, Timmons, Abuya, & Moore, 2010). The research that does exist reveals varied perceptions of the role that religious leaders believe that they should or can play in HIV service provision.…”

HIV-positive African-American women’s perspectives on engaging communities in the response to HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C.

“…They have the potential to be spaces for critical dialogue on HIV/AIDS. Churches can be sites to develop competence and act as receptive social spaces because of the power they may already hold in the community (Moore et al, 2012).…”

Seva in the Ramakrishna Mission Movement in India

“…The management entails an involved mediation process-with media, environments and networks through which symbols and expressions of faith are circulated and coalitions/partnerships are built. 77 Certain 'programmatic and systemic effects' result from the infusion of RKM as a player/ social actor-having consequences for the profile of service and who gets served. This in effect influences the transferability of RKM interventions across religious and secular applications in order to satisfy constitutional issues of equity and public choice.…”