Religiosity, ethnic identity, and risky sexual behavior in an African American church-affiliated population

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on March 12, 2013Dissertation advisor: Jannette Berkley-PattonVitaIncludes bibliographic references (p. 90-97)Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept. of Psychology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2012African Americans are disproportionately burdened by sexually transmitted infections and human immunodeficiency virus in the US. The current study examined relationships between demographics, religiosity, ethnic identity, and sexual risk behaviors among 202 sexually active African American church-affiliated participants (mean age = 25; 69% female). Participants were fairly religious as evidenced by their reports of weekly engagement of scripture reading and daily engagement in thoughts of God and prayer. Participants spent quite a bit to a great deal of time utilizing positive religious coping and little to no time utilizing negative religious coping. In addition, participant's God control beliefs moderately influenced their choices related to engagement in sex. Participants reported moderate levels of ethnic identity exploration and commitment. On average, participants reported 10 lifetime sex partners and two within the past six months. Age was significantly predictive of lifetime sexual checklist factors (i.e., having sex while high on drugs or alcohol, being a victim of domestic violence, having sex with someone who has been in the correctional system) and previous six month and lifetime sex-only factors (i.e., number of sex partners, condom use). None of the primary study predictors (i.e., religious beliefs and behaviors, religious coping, God control beliefs, ethnic identity) were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviors.Introduction -- Scope of the problem -- Sexual risk behaviors among African American adults -- Review of religiosity literature -- Review of ethnic identity literature -- Methodology -- Analysis plan -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendi

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR): Towards Equitable Involvement of Community in Psychology Research

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) answers the call for more patient-centered, community-driven research approaches to address growing health disparities. CBPR is a collaborative research approach that equitably involves community members, researchers, and other stakeholders in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each bring. The aim of CBPR is to combine knowledge and action to create positive and lasting social change. With its origins in psychology, sociology, and critical pedagogy, CBPR has become a common research approach in the fields of public health, medicine, and nursing. Although it is well aligned with psychology’s ethical principles and research aims, it has not been widely implemented in psychology research. The present article introduces CBPR to a general psychology audience while considering the unique aims of and challenges in conducting psychology research. In this article, we define CBPR principles, differentiate it from a more traditional psychology research approach, retrace its historical roots, provide concrete steps for its implementation, discuss its potential benefits, and explore practical and ethical challenges for its integration into psychology research. Finally, we provide a case study of CBPR in psychology to illustrate its key constructs and implementation. In sum, CBPR is a relevant, important, and promising research framework that may guide the implementation of more effective, culturally appropriate, socially just, and sustainable community-based psychology research

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT A Motivational Interviewing Course for Pharmacy Students

Objective. To create, implement, and evaluate a pharmacy course on motivational interviewing. Design. A 3-hour elective course was created to train doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students in brief patient-centered motivational interviewing counseling strategies that have proven effective with the types of health issues most commonly addressed in pharmacy settings. Students were assisted in developing their skills through required readings, interactive lectures, in-class demonstrations and practice sessions, out of class skills practice, one-on-one supervision provided by doctoral level clinical health psychology students, and written reflections on each class session. Assessment. Students demonstrated significant improvement in motivational interviewing skills and a high level of motivation for and confidence in using these skills in their future practice. Students overall assessment of the course and supervision process was highly positive. Conclusion. This patient-centered counseling skills course was feasible and produced improvements in PharmD students' counseling skills and increased their motivation and confidence to use motivational interviewing skills in their future communications with patients

Assessment of HIV-related stigma in a US faith-based HIV education and testing intervention

Introduction: The African American church is a highly influential institution with the potential to greatly increase the reach of HIV prevention interventions and address HIV-related stigma in US African American communities. However, there are few studies on HIV-related stigma and African American church populations. This study explored HIV-related stigma among church and community members participating in an HIV education and testing intervention pilot study in African American churches, named Taking It to the Pews. Methods: Four African American churches located in Kansas City, MO and KS, were randomized to either intervention or comparison groups. Churches assigned to the intervention group received religiously tailored HIV education, testing and compassion messages/activities (e.g. sermons, brochures/church bulletins, testimonials) via the Taking It to the Pews HIV Tool Kit. Comparison churches received non-religiously tailored HIV information. HIV-related stigma was assessed with 543 church members and with community members served through church outreach services (e.g. food/clothing pantries, social services) in the four churches. Participants completed surveys at baseline, 6 months and 12 months to assess their HIV-related stigma beliefs, exposure to intervention components and satisfaction with the study. Results: At baseline, HIV-related stigma beliefs were similar across experimental groups and were quite low. Mean HIV-related stigma scores were not significantly different between experimental groups at 6 months (p=0.92) or at 12 months (p=0.70). However, mean HIV-related stigma scores within both groups showed decreasing trends at six months, which approached significance. Analysis of previously studied HIV-related stigma factors (e.g. age, gender, income, HIV knowledge, religiosity) did not yield changes in the null findings. Intervention group participants were highly exposed to several intervention components (sermons, HIV resource tables, posters, brochures/church bulletins). Overall, participants were highly satisfied with the intervention pilot study. Conclusions: African American churches may be well positioned to increase the reach of HIV prevention interventions to church and community members and could serve an important role in addressing HIV-related stigma in their church communities. Future research is needed on measuring HIV-related stigma beliefs and on testing intensive, scalable, religiously tailored HIV interventions to impact HIV-related stigma in African American churches