This Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31-Promoting Diversity in Health Related Research) will explore church members'and leaders'perceptions of the capacity of the church to support HIV stigma reduction and testing interventions and develop and evaluate a culturally and religiously adapted measure of predictors of individuals'intentions to seek HIV testing in the Latino church context. Approximately 44% of Latinos attend church weekly, making it an ideal setting to reach a large portion of this population;however effective intervention materials for the church setting are lacking. This study will be conducted in two phases over 24 months and will collect data via focus groups, individual interviews, and surveys. Participants in Phase 1 (N = 70) will be recruited from a minimum of two Latino Catholic churches. Data will be gathered on church members'and leaders'perceptions of the church's capacity to implement HIV stigma reduction and testing interventions via focus groups and individual interviews. Additionally, guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), these same focus groups and interviews will be used to elicit information to guide the development of survey items focused on predictors of intentions to obtain an HIV test. In Phase 2 (N = 134), we will develop and assess the acceptability and comprehension of the new measure through cognitive debriefing sessions and collect data to evaluate the psychometric properties of the developed questionnaire.

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31-Promoting Diversity in Health Related Research) will explore church members'and leaders'perceptions of the capacity of the church to support HIV stigma reduction and testing interventions and develop and evaluate a culturally and religiously adapted measure of predictors of individuals'intentions to seek HIV testing in the Latino church context. Approximately 44% of Latinos attend church weekly, making it an ideal setting to reach a large portion of this population;however effective intervention materials for the church setting are lacking. The potential public health impact is large as Hispanics/Latinos are disproportionately affected by HIV.

F31MH090927

2010-11-22

2012-11-21