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Abstract The purpose of this article is to describe results of a quasi-experimental study of HIV education messengers in a Black low income housing complex in Prince George's County, Maryland. AIDS is increasingly exacting a disproportionate toll on lower income, Black communities. Although Whites still constitute the majority of the AIDS cases overall, Blacks are affected by AIDS in numbers far greater than their relative percentage in the population. Community-based organizations have been funded by the federal government and private foundations to mount culturally sensitive HIV education and prevention programs in order to reach those Blacks whose behavior places them at greatest risk for HIV infection. Advocates for AIDS prevention in minority communities often assume that in order for AIDS educators to have trust and credibility, they must be of the same racial/ethnic background as participants. Results from this study demonstrated that the intuitive rationale for matching the racial identity of the AIDS messenger with that of the target population may be more complex than previously assumed.
Thomas et al. (Tue,) studied this question.