People who are HIV-positive and religious at the same time usually have fewer sexual partners and are involved in dangerous sexual behavior less frequently than other people infected with HIV, the virus causing Aids. In other words, that HIV-positive people with stronger religious ties are less probable to spread the virus, according to the research released on Tuesday by the RAND Corporation.
Such results of the study may be helpful in reducing HIV infection rates.
The research did not analyze specific factors of religiosity that may have some influence the sexual activity of HIV-positive patients. However, moral beliefs and membership in a religious community may be two significant elements, indicated the most important scientist and RAND senior behavior specialist, David Kanouse.
An underlying altruism
"Moral beliefs may suggest an underlying altruism and a wish to be sure that nobody one else is infected with this virus. Promoting these feelings could next be used as an element of programs promoting the prevention of HIV," Kanouse explained in a prepared statement.
"The research indicates that there is a role for religious institutions to play in the struggle against the spread of HIV," the lead author of the research, Frank H. Galvan, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and human behaviour at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement.
"They have these systems of core belief that have a really positive influence on the lives of patients who are infected with HIV and who are sexually active. Religiosity is an unexploited resource in the whole fight against HIV and Aids, and ought to be scrutinized more carefully," Galvan explained.
The research results were published in the February issue of the Journal of Sex Research.
