TY - JOUR
T1 - Church Attendance as a Predictor of Number of Sexual Health Topics Discussed Among High-Risk HIV-Negative Black Women
AU - Williams, Terrinieka T.
AU - Pichon, Latrice C.
AU - Davey-Rothwell, Melissa
AU - Latkin, Carl A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank April Nellum for her assistance with manuscript preparation. This work was funded by the National Institute on Mental Health (Grants# R01 MH66810 and 1K01 MH096611-01A1) and the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (Grants# R01 DA031030 and 3R01 DA031030-02S2).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - Research suggests that sexual health communication is associated with safer sex practices. In this study, we examined the relationship between church attendance and sexual health topics discussed with both friends and sexual partners among a sample of urban Black women. Participants were 434 HIV-negative Black women who were at high risk for contracting HIV through heterosexual sex. They were recruited from Baltimore, Maryland using a network-based sampling approach. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and Audio-Computer-Assisted Self-Interviews. Fifty-four percent of the participants attended church once a month or more (regular attendees). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that regular church attendance among high-risk HIV-negative Black women was a significant predictor of the number of sexual health topics discussed with both friends (AOR = 1.85, p = .003) and sexual partners (AOR = 1.68, p = .014). Future efforts to reduce HIV incidence among high-risk Black women may benefit from partnerships with churches that equip faith leaders and congregants with the tools to discuss sexual health topics with both their sexual partners and friends.
AB - Research suggests that sexual health communication is associated with safer sex practices. In this study, we examined the relationship between church attendance and sexual health topics discussed with both friends and sexual partners among a sample of urban Black women. Participants were 434 HIV-negative Black women who were at high risk for contracting HIV through heterosexual sex. They were recruited from Baltimore, Maryland using a network-based sampling approach. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and Audio-Computer-Assisted Self-Interviews. Fifty-four percent of the participants attended church once a month or more (regular attendees). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that regular church attendance among high-risk HIV-negative Black women was a significant predictor of the number of sexual health topics discussed with both friends (AOR = 1.85, p = .003) and sexual partners (AOR = 1.68, p = .014). Future efforts to reduce HIV incidence among high-risk Black women may benefit from partnerships with churches that equip faith leaders and congregants with the tools to discuss sexual health topics with both their sexual partners and friends.
KW - Church
KW - HIV
KW - Religion
KW - Sexual health communication
KW - Sexual risk reduction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84953636555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84953636555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10508-015-0506-4
DO - 10.1007/s10508-015-0506-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 25966802
AN - SCOPUS:84953636555
VL - 45
SP - 451
EP - 458
JO - Archives of Sexual Behavior
JF - Archives of Sexual Behavior
SN - 0004-0002
IS - 2
ER -