Faith communities and HIV/AIDS prevention in New York State: results of a statewide survey.
OBJECTIVE
The authors surveyed religious congregations in New York State to document the extent to which HIV/AIDS-related education and prevention services were being offered; to identify barriers to offering services; and to assess respondents' willingness to meet with HIV/AIDS service providers in their communities.


METHODS
In October 1997, a questionnaire was mailed to all congregations in New York State. Due to an initially poor response rate, follow-up telephone interviews were made to a random sample of non-respondents. Survey responses were weighted to represent all congregations across New York State.


RESULTS
Just 16.7% of congregations provided or facilitated HIV/AIDS-related prevention services. Respondents cited both attitudinal and resource-related reasons for not offering services. There was a striking discordance between respondents' perceptions of the need for HIV/AIDS prevention services in their communities and an objective measure of need created by the Health Department. Approximately half of survey respondents expressed willingness to meet with HIV/AIDS service providers.


CONCLUSIONS
Follow-up efforts to increase the number of religious congregations providing, facilitating, or offering referrals to HIV/AIDS-related education and prevention services are warranted.
Tesoriero
J M
JM
New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, Office of Program Evaluation and Research, Menands 12204, USA. jmt07@health.state.ny.us
Parisi
D M
DM
Sampson
S
S
Foster
J
J
Klein
S
S
Ellemberg
C
C
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006266:Health Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009518:New York; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires