An examination of HIV knowledge and testing in a sample of heterosexual African-American and Afro-Caribbean men in Brooklyn, New York

Baseline data (N=125) from an HIV risk reduction program for at-risk heterosexual Black men were used to evaluate HIV knowledge differences between African-American [AA] (76.8%) and Afro-Caribbean [AC] (23.2%) men. Men, aged 19 to 65 years (M= 28.55, SD= 8.64) were recruited from 12 barbershops in Brooklyn, NY between 11/12 and 11/13. HIV knowledge was measured through 13 questions regarding HIV virus, transmission and prevention methods. Overall knowledge was computed from responses across 13 questions to form a dichotomized variable (complete vs incomplete) such that one group contained men who correctly answered all 13 questions and the other group contained men who gave at least one incorrect answer. Overall, only 23.8% had complete HIV knowledge, 46.9% did not know the HIV status of at least one of their sexual partners. Similar percentages of AA and AC men were classified as having incomplete HIV knowledge (73.5% vs. 85.7%), were unaware of the HIV status of at least one of their sexual partners (49.5% vs. 37.9%), and reported not having been tested for HIV in the past year (35.2% versus 43.3%) (all p-values>0.05). However, a greater percentage of AA men (56.7%) felt they were able to make a difference in the health of their family, friends and community when compared to AC men (33.3%) (p= 0.024). Although not all the results showed significant differences between the ethnic groups in this sample, our findings still highlight low HIV knowledge and a high degree of unawareness regarding the HIV status of men’s sexual partners.