David Martinez, senior graduate student in the Department of Psychology, was awarded a two-year F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) to conduct his dissertation study that explores the barriers and facilitators to implanting HIV testing and prevention programs in the Latino church setting. This study will also develop a questionnaire that will assess HIV testing intentions and HIV stigma among Latino church-goers. Since he received the award 1 year ago, David has been working closely with two local Catholic churches that serve about 1,000 Latinos each week to conduct this research project. With the help of undergraduate research assistants, he has conducted several focus groups and interviews that will inform the development of a questionnaire. David is about to begin the second year of the project, which will include administering the questionnaire to Latino church-goers in order to assess the psychometric properties of the developed questionnaire. Congratulations David, and best wishes for a successful second phase of your project!
