PRACTICING WHAT IS PREACHED: CONGREGATIONAL RELATED TO HIV TESTING BEHAVIORS AND HIV DISCUSSIONS AMONG BLACK WOMEN

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthThrough the current analysis, we aimed to better understand therelationship between congregational support and HIV prevention behaviorsamong a sample of high-risk, HIV-negative Black women. Participantswere 434 Black women who were at high risk for contracting HIV throughheterosexual sex. They were recruited from a city in the Mid-Atlantic region.Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and AudioComputer-Assisted Self-Interviews. Results revealed three congregationalcharacteristics were important for Black women’s comfort level discussingHIV and their likelihood of returning for their HIV test results: feelingloved by their congregation, having ministries that helped people with theirproblems, and feeling listened to by their congregation. Thus, religiouscongregational support was a significant correlate of Black women’s

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