RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AS SOURCES OF AIDS INFORMATION FOR STREET INJECTION-DRUG USERS

While the scholarly literature contains many descriptions of the cultu ral world of the street drug user, these descriptions generally do not focus on the role of religious belief or institutions in the daily li fe of drug users. This paper examines religious self-identification an d perceived religious influence in a national population of street inj ection drug users at high risk for HIV infection and explores how thes e self-perceptions might relate to religious institutions as sources o f AIDS education and prevention. Hispanics and African Americans were significantly more likely than whites to report they were strongly inf luenced by their religious beliefs and had received AIDS education fro m their churches or temples. It is suggested that any comprehensive co mmunity AIDS education and prevention efforts directed toward injectio n drug users should incorporate the religious traditions of those at h igh risk for AIDS by including community religious institutions, parti cularly in Hispanic and African American communities.