Examining Predictors of Congregational HIV Activities

描述(由申请人提供)：少数族裔和少数族裔不成比例地感染艾滋病毒，这是美国死亡和发病的主要原因。扩大以社区为基础的预防、检测和联系以照顾艾滋病毒的一种创新方式是通过以信仰为基础的组织，先前的研究表明，这可以促进健康和福祉--无论是在他们的会众内部，还是通过与社区的接触。然而，尽管宗教会众在健康方面做出了重要贡献，但很少有人从事与艾滋病毒有关的活动。虽然我们不了解缺乏教会艾滋病毒活动的所有原因，但文献中确定的几个因素包括缺乏关于这种疾病、其历史及其后果的信息，以及教会资源有限。与疾病、同性恋和吸毒有关的耻辱也被确定为一个特别重要的障碍。之前的研究一直受到限制，因为缺乏关于会众发展的特定类型的计划的数据。然而，2012年全国教会研究(NCS)-美国宗教组织的全国代表性样本-收集的新数据区分了旨在支持艾滋病毒携带者(PLWH)、预防艾滋病毒、普遍提高对艾滋病毒的认识以及支持其他组织应对艾滋病毒的教会计划。拟议的定量研究将利用这一新数据，以更好地了解会众如何在全国范围内具体开展艾滋病毒活动，并确定会众中每种艾滋病毒活动存在的会众和社区特征。具体地说，它将旨在(1)确定会众参与或参与的艾滋病毒活动的具体类型；(2)检查会众(及其社区)预测参与这些活动的特点；(3)评估这些因素是否因会众的多数种族(即非裔美国人会众与其他人相比)而有所不同。为了实现这些目标，我们将利用创新和制度理论来支持一个框架，以概念化影响会众参与艾滋病毒的因素。这些因素包括会众组成和社区背景(例如，会众和社区的人口和健康特征)、会众教义和政策、会众资源(例如，财政、物质和人力资源)、会众与外部组织的关系以及这些组织对会众发展艾滋病毒计划的影响。这项研究的发现将对我们理解宗教组织如何解决艾滋病毒差距，特别是它们如何在非裔美国人参加的机构中这样做做出重要贡献，因为非洲裔美国人受到艾滋病毒的影响不成比例。它还可以通过确定促进会众参与的因素，帮助了解与社区艾滋病毒预防和护理工作有关的政策和做法。这项工作将特别引起公共卫生专业人员的兴趣，他们有兴趣与围绕艾滋病毒的教众建立有效的伙伴关系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Racial and ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately from HIV, which is a leading cause of U.S. mortality and morbidity. One innovative way to expand community-based prevention, testing, and linkage to care for HIV is through faith-based organizations, which previous research has shown can promote health and well-being- both within their congregations and through outreach to the community. However, despite the important contributions religious congregations make in health, few engage in HIV-related activities. Although we do not understand all the reasons for this lack of congregational HIV activities, several factors identified in the literature include lack of information about the disese, its history, and its consequences, as well as limited congregational resources. Stigma related to the disease, homosexuality, and drug use has also been identified as a particularly important barrier. Prior research has been limited because of a dearth of data on the specific types of programs congregations develop. However, new data collected in the 2012 National Congregations Study (NCS)-a nationally representative sample of U.S. religious organizations-differentiates among congregational programs that aim to support people living with HIV (PLWH), prevent HIV, generally raise awareness about HIV, and support other organizations in addressing HIV. The proposed quantitative study will draw on this new data to better understand how congregations specifically engage in HIV activities across the country and to determine the congregational and community characteristics associated with the existence of each type of HIV activity in congregations. Specifically, it will aim to (1) characterize the specific types of HIV activities in which congregations engage or participate; (2) examine the characteristics of congregations (and their communities) that predict involvement in these activities; and (3) assess whether these factors differ by the majority race of the congregation (i.e., African-American congregations compared with others). To accomplish these aims, we will draw on innovation and institutional theories to support a framework for conceptualizing the factors that influence congregational involvement in HIV. Such factors include congregational composition and community context (e.g., congregational and community demographic and health characteristics), congregational doctrine and policy, congregational resources (e.g., financial, physical, and human resources), and the relationships the congregation has with outside organizations and the impact of those on developing HIV programs in congregations. The findings from this research will make an important contribution to our understanding of how religious organizations address HIV disparities and, in particular, how they do so among institutions attended by African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by HIV. It may also help inform policy and practice related to community-based HIV prevention and care efforts by identifying factors that facilitate congregational involvement. This work will be of particular interest to public health professionals interested in building effective partnerships with congregations around HIV.