 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Laura M. Bogart, PhD, RAND Health, RAND Corportation, 1700 Main Street P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, 310-393-0411 x7109, lbogart@rand.org and Sheryl Thorburn Bird, PhD, MPH, Department of Public Health, Oregon State University, 264 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331-6406.
Prior research shows that a substantial number of African Americans hold conspiracy beliefs about HIV, such as the belief that HIV is a form of Black genocide. Although researchers have speculated that such beliefs may be barriers to HIV prevention efforts, no research to date has examined this hypothesis. We are currently conducting a telephone survey of a national random sample of 500+ African Americans, aged 15-44. Participants are asked about conspiracy beliefs and sexual behaviors and intentions. Preliminary results for the first 373 respondents indicate that many endorsed the beliefs, which were averaged to form a scale (14 beliefs; alpha = .84). For example, almost half agreed that, "People who take the new medicines for HIV are human guinea pigs for the government." Endorsing conspiracy beliefs was associated with having a greater number of sexual partners in lifetime (r = .12, p < .05). In addition, men with stronger conspiracy beliefs were less likely to intend to use condoms at next intercourse (r = -.24, p < .01) and to report always using condoms in the past three months (r = -.27, p < .01); these associations were not significant for women. Thus, individuals who hold strong conspiracy beliefs may be less open to HIV prevention and may practice riskier behaviors as a result.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: African American, HIV Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.