Recruitment of rural African American churches into an HIV/AIDS stigma-reducing clinical trial in Alabama

Issues: HIV/AIDS related stigma has been theorized to be a major barrier for prevention activities in African American communities in the rural South, particularly in churches. Strategies which develop best practices to recruit church members into trials to test stigma-reducing interventions would be beneficial. Description: We were funded to conduct an anti-stigma HIV/AIDS study with rural African American churches in Alabama. We began educating church leaders about the study through use of four ministerial liaisons to prepare for study recruitment. We discuss some of the successes and challenges of engagement of church leaders for our HIV prevention study. Lessons Learned: We addressed church leaders at two events: 1) a World AIDS Day session targeting interdenominational church leadership (25 attendees), and 2) a Fall Regional Business meeting of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (200 attendees). In both settings, we provided information about the impact of HIV in Alabama, the importance of the research for disproportionately affected African Americans, and how persons could participate in our stigma-reduction study. The coordinating ministerial liaisons had no formal HIV education background, only community organizing experience. Church leaders expressed interest in study participation to learn about HIV stigma and contribute to HIV prevention efforts. Recommendations: This early success is likely due to the community organizing skills of the ministerial liaison, interest in HIV prevention efforts within their churches and the support of denominational church leadership. Follow up sessions to clarify study goals and build trust with the research team are planned.