Organizational Change toward HIV Involvement in Immigrant Religious Organizations

描述（由申请人提供）：宗教组织在促进减少艾滋病毒污名和改变社会规范方面具有独特的地位，这些规范不鼓励在其正式成员和更大的社区中讨论艾滋病。减少耻辱感和改变这种社会规范是开展有效的艾滋病毒预防和检测项目以及促进对艾滋病毒/艾滋病感染者的接受的重要前提。然而，在许多社区，宗教组织在很大程度上没有参与艾滋病毒预防和支持活动。这项提议的研究旨在分析社会网络和宗教信仰如何促进或阻碍宗教机构的组织变革，以更多地参与艾滋病毒。为了控制种族、宗教和地区的影响，研究人群已缩小到纽约市（NYC）的中国移民佛教和基督教宗教组织。由于研究人群的选择，该研究的结果将与中国和其他亚洲移民人群最相关，这些人群最近在美国的艾滋病毒/艾滋病诊断率增长最快。从这个角度来看，本研究提供了一个机会，可以在令人担忧的增长指标转化为明显更高的艾滋病毒患病率之前，为美国亚裔人群制定有效的预防措施（就像在其他美国社区和亚太地区发生的那样），同时也为宗教组织、社会网络、组织变革和艾滋病毒的理论和文献做出更广泛的贡献。这些发现将与广泛的社区相关，因为越来越多的宗教机构在艾滋病毒中的作用一直没有得到充分的研究。由于先前的研究表明，宗教组织参与艾滋病毒的障碍主要是社会和宗教，因此本研究的具体目的是：(1)确定社会网络结构如何促进或阻碍有关艾滋病毒参与的组织变革；(2)识别和描述领导者和成员的宗教信仰如何影响组织参与艾滋病毒；(3)通过最后一次工作会议，将研究结果转化为克服参与艾滋病毒防治障碍的战略。为此，本文采用定性访谈、定量调查和社会网络相结合的方法，对宗教组织领导人和成员的社会网络特征、宗教信仰、艾滋病知识和态度以及创新能力等方面进行了研究。鉴于艾滋病毒在亚洲的蔓延及其对亚裔美国人社区的影响、艾滋病毒/艾滋病诊出率的上升、宗教机构在移民社区中的核心作用以及对艾滋病毒的高度蔑视对预防教育和护理造成的巨大障碍，使亚洲移民宗教组织参与减少对艾滋病毒的蔑视、防止新的感染、并确保感染艾滋病毒的亚洲移民得到适当的照顾和支持。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Religious organizations are uniquely positioned to promote reduction of HIV stigma and to change social norms that discourage discussion of HIV among their formal memberships and in the larger community. Reducing stigma and changing such social norms are crucial precursors to conducting effective HIV prevention and testing programs and fostering acceptance of those living with HIV/AIDS. Yet, in many communities, religious organizations have been largely uninvolved in HIV prevention and support activities. The proposed study aims to analyze how social networks and religious beliefs facilitate or impede organizational change in religious institutions toward greater involvement in HIV. To control for the effects of ethnicity, religion and region, the study population has been narrowed to Chinese immigrant Buddhist and Christian religious organizations in New York City (NYC). Because of the choice of study population, the study's findings will be most relevant to Chinese and other Asian immigrant populations, which have recently had the largest increase in HIV/AIDS diagnosis rates in the US. In this light, the proposed study represents an opportunity to develop effective prevention efforts for US Asian populations before alarming indicators of increase translate into markedly higher HIV prevalence (as has occurred in other US communities and in the Asia/Pacific region), while also making a more general contribution to the theory and literature on religious organizations, social networks, organizational change, and HIV. The findings will be relevant to a wide range of communities, as increasing religious institutions' role in HIV has been generally under-studied. Because previous research indicates that barriers to religious organizations' involvement in HIV are largely social and religious, the study' specific aims are: (1) to determine how social network structures facilitate or impede organizational change with regard to involvement in HIV; (2) to identify and describe how leaders' and members' religious beliefs influence organizational involvement in HIV; and (3) to translate findings into strategies for overcoming barriers to involvement in HIV through a final working conference. To meet these aims, we propose a mixed methods study using qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys and social network methodologies to collect data on religious organization leaders' and members' social network characteristics, religious beliefs, HIV knowledge and attitudes, and innovativeness. Given the growing HIV epidemic in Asia and evidence of its impact on Asian American communities, increases in HIV/AIDS diagnosis rates, the central role of religious institutions in immigrant communities, and the formidable barriers to prevention education and care posed by high levels of HIV stigma, it is of critical importance to involve Asian immigrant religious organizations in efforts to reduce HIV stigma, prevent new infections, and ensure that Asian immigrants living with HIV receive proper care and support.