A Contextualized Approach to Faith-Based HIV Risk Reduction for African American Women

HIV/AIDS has a devastating impact on African Americans, particularly women and young adults. We sought to characterize risks, barriers, and content and delivery needs for a faith-based intervention to reduce HIV risk among African American women ages 18 to 25. In a convergent parallel mixed methods study, we conducted four focus groups (n = 38) and surveyed 71 young adult women. Data were collected across four African American churches for a total of 109 participants. We found the majority of women in this sample were engaged in behaviors that put them at risk for contracting HIV, struggled with religiously based barriers and matters of sexuality, and had a desire to incorporate their intimate relationships, parenting, and financial burdens into faith-based HIV risk-reduction interventions. Incorporating additional social context–related factors into HIV risk-reduction interventions for young African American women is critical to adapting and developing HIV interventions to reduce risk among young adult women in faith settings.