Key Attributes of Health Ministries in African American Churches: An Exploratory Survey

Abstract

Background: Church leaders are considered instrumental in the successful implementation of church-based health programs. However, it is unknown which program attributes they perceive as important and which program attributes exist in their congregations.Objective: To explore the perceived importance and existence of health ministry-related attributes in predominately African American churches. Methods: Cross-sectional survey, with a convenience sample of 98 registered church leaders attending a conference on health and spirituality in Raleigh, NC. Attendees were asked to complete a brief survey assessing perceived importance (very important vs. somewhat or not important) and existence (yes vs. no) of 20, health ministry-related attributes in their churches. Percent perceived as very important, percent existence, and their differences were assessed for each attribute.Results: Seventy-two (73.5%) of the attendees completed the survey. Attributes perceived as very important were: displaying health information in churches (73.6%); hosting health fairs for church members (72.2%); pastoral, church-based Internet access (70.8%); willingness to receive foundation funding for activities (66.7%); and incorporating health messages in Sunday bulletins (65.3%). For each of these program attributes, there was a gap between the proportion rating them "very important" and existence of the attribute in their own congregations (range diff in %: -8.3 to -22.2).Limitations: Lack of generalizability due to sample selection and homogeneity. Conclusions: Among leaders surveyed, despite perceived importance, attributes did not exist for all. Future studies should evaluate whether attributes considered important by church leadership parallel an increase in the development and maintenance of health program activities, and are associated with congregation health behaviors and health outcomes.

Dissemination trial for Health for Hearts United: Model development, preliminary outcomes and lessons learned

“…Health Ministry Planning. To build infrastructure for health within the churches, each team of health leaders worked on strategic plans to develop their health ministries [ 3 , 31 ]. The plans included church purpose and history, and health ministry mission, vision, goals, activities, evaluation, and sustainability.…”

“…The final component of planning was a discussion with health leaders about their ideas for the CVD awareness event. The intent of planning and implementing this event was to build organizational capacity for health programming [ [31] , [32] , [33] ]. The 1-h in person meeting with health leaders, described above, was used to get input on their planning for the CVD awareness event and to provide guidance.…”

Faith and health behavior: The role of the African American church in health promotion and disease prevention.

“…In addition, concern for the spiritual, physical, and mental well-being of church staff and leadership must be supported for leadership to model health stewardship to congregants. Within the organizational frame of many churches, these activities fall under stated objectives related to compassionate pastoral care and local, domestic mission initiatives in which tenets of service and witness hold sway (Carter-Edwards, Jallah, Goldmon, Roberson, & Hoyo, 2006).…”