Suchergebnisse

Although new HIV infections in African American women have decreased, this population still constitutes the over half of all new HIV infections in women. Risk-reduction interventions and advancements in antiretroviral therapies have helped HIV-positive persons live longer. However, there are lags in care linkages and retention. Medication adherence is an important aspect of enhancing quality of and prolonging lives of persons living with HIV/AIDS. While studies have explored barriers and facilitators to medication adherence, gaps in the literature related to adherence for high-risk populations remain. By using narrative inquiry and the Health Belief Model, this exploratory study sought to gain insight on facilitators of and barriers to medication adherence among African American women who have been HIV positive for 10 or more years. The women discussed personal experiences and cues to action that help them remain adherent. Additional studies testing interventions designed specifically for long-term survivors may be advantageous within public health.

Purpose. The Emory Prevention Research Center's Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network mini-grant program funded faith-based organizations to implement policy and environmental change to promote healthy eating and physical activity in rural South Georgia. This study describes the existing health promotion environment and its relationship to church member behavior. Design. Cross-sectional. Setting. Data were obtained from parishioners of six churches in predominantly rural South Georgia. Subjects. Participants were 319 church members with average age of 48 years, of whom 80% were female and 84% were black/African-American. Measures. Questionnaires assessed perceptions of the existing church health promotion environment relative to nutrition and physical activity, eating behavior and intention to use physical activity facilities at church, and eating and physical activity behaviors outside of church. Analysis. Multiple regression and ordinal logistic regression using generalized estimating equations were used to account for clustered data. Results. Results indicate that delivering messages via sermons and church bulletins, having healthy eating programs, and serving healthy foods are associated with participants' self-reported consumption of healthy foods at church (all p values ≤ .001). Serving more healthy food and less unhealthy food was associated with healthier eating in general but not to physical activity in general (p values ≤ .001). Conclusion. The church environment may play an important role in supporting healthy eating in this setting and more generally.