title: Using concept mapping to mobilize a Black faith community to address HIV.
abstract: Research that partners with community stakeholders increases contextual relevance and community buy-in and maximizes the chance for intervention success. Within a framework of an academic-community partnership, this project assessed a Black faith-community's needs and opportunities to address HIV. We used concept mapping to identify/prioritize specific HIV-related strategies that would be acceptable to congregations. Ninety stakeholders brainstormed strategies to address HIV; 21 sorted strategies into groups and rated their importance and feasibility. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis were applied to the sorting to produce maps that illustrated the stakeholders' conceptual thinking about HIV interventions. Of 278 responses, 93 were used in the sorting task. The visual maps represented eight clusters: church acceptance of people living with HIV; education (most feasible); mobilization and communication; church/leaders' empowerment; church involvement/collaboration; safety/HIV prevention; media outreach; and, stigma (most important). Concept mapping clarified multifaceted issues of HIV in the Black faith community. The results will guide HIV programming in congregations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; Mailing address: HHB 460Q, 1720 2 Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35294-1152, USA; szaflam@uab.edu; Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Szaflarski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati and Division of Emergency Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Mailing address: 3333 Burnet Ave., ML 2008, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA; lisa.vaughn@cchmc.org.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Vaughn
authors.affiliation: Division of General & Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Mailing address: 3333 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA; daniel.mclinden@cchmc.org.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McLinden
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Mailing address: 200 Albert Sabin Way, Holmes Bldg, Rm 3103; Cincinnati, OH 45267-0405, USA; wessyy@uc.edu.
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wess
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Mailing address: 231 Sabin Way, ML 0769, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA; andrew.ruffner@uc.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruffner
keywords: AIDS; Black faith community; HIV; HIV intervention strategies; acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; concept mapping; human immunodeficiency virus