New Academy Study Aims to Identify Barriers to Asian Religious Organizations' Involvement in HIV Prevention and Support, and to Increase Their Role

NEW YORK CITY, July 13- Although religious institutions catering to New York City’s Asian immigrant population have the potential to encourage HIV prevention, provide support to people living with HIV, and reduce stigma about the disease, many of these organizations are uninvolved in HIV-related activities and some may act counter-productively. The New York Academy of Medicine has launched a new five-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aimed at identifying the barriers to religious organizations’ involvement in HIV-related work among Chinese and other Asian Pacific Islander immigrants and increasing religious institutions’ roles in HIV prevention and support.

Researchers in the Academy’s Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies (CUES) received the $ 2.8 million grant in June. With the help of community-based collaborators, Academy scientists will recruit 21 Chinese immigrant Christian and Buddhist religious organizations throughout New York City to be involved in the study. They will determine how the religious worldviews and social networks of these institutions either facilitate or impede their involvement in HIV-related activities. Researchers will conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with core members of the institutions and quantitative surveys to assess their religious worldview, knowledge and attitudes about HIV, social networks and their organizations’ potential for HIV involvement.

“Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the United States currently have a relatively low HIV prevalence, but recent data show high increases in the rate of new HIV diagnoses for this population,” said John Chin, PhD, Senior Researcher in CUES and the study’s Principal Investigator. Although data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that HIV/AIDS diagnosis rates are increasing faster among API immigrants in the United States than in any other racial group, many of these immigrants have limited HIV awareness when compared to other populations, primarily because language and cultural barriers prevent them from accessing mainstream informational sources. High levels of stigma in API communities regarding HIV also make it difficult to reach community members with prevention messages, Chin said.

Previous studies have confirmed the importance of spirituality in the lives of Asian immigrants living with HIV and the important role of religious institutions in Asian immigrant communities. “Because of their central and respected role, religious institutions in API American communities may be key partners in HIV-related prevention, care, and stigma-reduction,” said Chin. However, many religious organizations have failed to provide HIV education to members and support for community members living with HIV, despite engaging in other health-related activities. Preliminary research has indicated that misinformation about HIV and stigmatized views of people living with HIV among members and leaders of religious institutions are important barriers to increasing institutions’ involvement in HIV-related programs. The new Academy study aims to build upon these findings and further examine the barriers inhibiting API religious institutions’ participation in HIV-related activities.

Researchers intend to use the study’s findings to develop programmatic strategies and interventions to encourage more open discussion of HIV and greater acceptance of HIV positive Asian immigrants in religious organizations, possibly through the establishment of an educational program or the inclusion of compassionate statements about HIV in prayers. Instituting these innovations could help to increase HIV prevention knowledge, reduce stigma, and reduce the rate of HIV transmission among U.S. Asian populations.

“The influence of religious organizations in preventing the spread of HIV among their congregants is a very important and under-studied research area,” said Susan Newcomer, Ph.D, a project officer for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NIH division that awarded the grant. “Information gained from this study may yield useful strategies for HIV prevention.”

The benefits of the study are expected to extend beyond U.S. Chinese and other Asian communities, Chin said. “The lessons learned from the study will help us to understand how to work collaboratively with religious institutions to address not only HIV, but also other public health issues, both in the API community and in other communities,” he said.

Founded in 1847, The New York Academy of Medicine is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit institution whose mission is to enhance the health of the public. Our research, education, community engagement, and evidence-based advocacy seek to improve the health of people living in cities, especially disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. The impact of these initiatives reaches into neighborhoods in New York City, across the country, and around the world. We work with community based organizations, academic institutions, corporations, the media, and government to catalyze and contribute to changes that promote health. Visit us online at www.nyam.org.

This research is supported by Grant Number R01HD054303 from the NICHD. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NICHD or the NIH.

Posted on July 16, 2007

 Print   Subscribe

Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

Press Release Archive