Abstract
Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity along with lack of access to quality healthcare contribute to the marked health disparities in chronic diseases among African–Americans. Faith-based public health conferences offer a potential opportunity to improve health literacy and change health behaviors through health promotion within this population, thereby reducing health disparities. This study examined the self-reported health behaviors and preventive healthcare utilization patterns of 77 participants at a predominantly African–American faith-based public health conference, Healthy Churches 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of attendees to assess their health behaviors (diet and physical activity), preventive healthcare utilization (annual healthcare provider visits), and health-promoting activities at their places of worship. The results indicate that attendees of a faith-based public health conference have adequate preventive healthcare utilization, but suboptimal healthy behaviors. Our findings support the need for ongoing health-promoting activities with an emphasis on diet and physical activity among this population.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank all study participants attending the 2016 Healthy Churches 2020 National Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. This study would have been impossible to conduct without the support of The Balm in Gilead, Inc. staff and volunteers. The authors are indebted to Dr. Pernessa Seele founder and CEO of The Balm of Gilead, Inc. as well as the 2016 Healthy Churches 2020 National Conference attendees that took part in the survey. This study was financially supported by the Mayo Clinic Office of Health Disparities Research (2016-OHDRSI-0003-HC2020). Dr. Brewer is supported by the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Scholars Program (Award No. K12 HD065987-07) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health and Mayo Clinic Women’s Health Research Center and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS, CTSA Grant No. KL2 TR002379), a component of NIH. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NIH.
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The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the NIH. This study was further supported by the Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Science Activities (UL1TR000135), Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and Mayo Clinic Office of Health Disparities Research.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Pullins, C.T., Seele, P.C., White, R.O. et al. Health Behaviors and Preventive Healthcare Utilization Among African–American Attendees at a Faith-Based Public Health Conference: Healthy Churches 2020. J Relig Health 57, 2538–2551 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0667-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0667-2