Perspectives on Efforts to Address HIV/AIDS of Religious Clergy Serving African American and Hispanic Communities in Utah

2007

Clergy Perspectives on HIV/AIDS Prevention in Minority Communities

Sample size: 11 publication Evidence: low

Author Information

Author(s): Alder Stephen C, Simonsen Sara, Duncan Megan, Shaver John, DeWitt Jan, Crookston Benjamin

Primary Institution: University of Utah, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine

Can religious leaders effectively contribute to HIV/AIDS prevention in African American and Hispanic communities?

Clergy believe that HIV/AIDS prevention and care are important responsibilities of religious organizations and are open to expanding their efforts.

Clergy expressed concern about HIV/AIDS as a global epidemic and acknowledged its preventability.
Participants felt a moral responsibility to address HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
Both Catholic and African American clergy discussed the importance of moral lifestyles in preventing HIV/AIDS.

This study shows that church leaders think they can help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by sharing important messages with their communities.

Three focus groups with a total of eleven clergy members were conducted and analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach.

The study is geographically constrained and has a small sample size, which may limit generalizability.

Participants included Catholic clergy serving Hispanic congregations and Protestant clergy serving African American congregations.

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