Faith communities and HIV/AIDS prevention in New York State: Results of a statewide survey

Objectives. The authors surveyed religious congregations in New York State to document the extent to which HIV/AIDS-related education and prevention s ervices 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 ail congregations i n New York State. Due to an initially poor response rate, follow-up telepho ne interviews were made to a random sample of non-respondents, Survey respo nses were weighted to represent ail congregations across New York State. Results. Just 16.7% of congregations provided or facilitated HIV/AIDS-relat ed prevention services. Respondents cited both attitudinal and resource-rel ated reasons for not offering services, There was a striking discordance be tween respondents' perceptions of the need for HIV/AIDS prevention services in their communities and an objective measure of need created by the Healt h Department, Approximately half of survey respondents expressed willingnes s to meet with HIV/AIDS service providers. Conclusion. Follow-up efforts to increase the number of religious congregat ions providing, facilitating, or offering referrals to HIV/AIDS-related edu cation and prevention services are warranted.