Dietary Intake Among Church-Affiliated African Americans: The Role of Intentions and Beliefs

Abstract

Diabetes and heart disease disproportionately burden African Americans, who tend to have worse nutritional intake than Whites. Many Black churches are influential institutions in the Black community, with potential to assist with promotion of healthy eating behaviors. The purpose of the current study was to use the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine intention to eat a healthy diet and dietary behaviors among church-affiliated African Americans. It was hypothesized that TPB constructs would positively predict intention to eat a healthy diet and that intention to eat a healthy diet would be a predictor of fat and fruit and vegetable intake. It was also hypothesized that control beliefs would predict reduced fat intake and increased fruit and vegetable intake. Path analyses indicated behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were predictive of intention to eat a healthy diet. Intention to eat healthy was a significant predictor of dietary intake behaviors. These findings provide support for the use of the TPB in examining diet among church-affiliated African Americans. This study represents an opportunity to inform dietary interventions for the African American faith community.

The Ergonomic Behaviors Evaluation Tool (EBET) based on social cognitive theory for the assembly line workers: development and psychometric assessment

“…Intention was found to be the most influential factor, reflecting an individual’s commitment to performing ergonomic behaviors. This finding is consistent with other studies and is theoretically supported [ 44 , 45 ]. Research consistently demonstrates that intention plays a pivotal role in shaping an individual’s commitment to ergonomic behaviors.…”

Engaging the Faith Community in Designing a Church-Based Mental Health Screening and Linkage to Care Intervention

“…Second, the authors' sample consisted primarily of women and older adults. While reflective of past African American church-based studies (Bauer et al, 2019;Berkley-Patton et al, 2020;Christensen et al, 2020), future HNAs should aim to engage more African American men and young adults to gain a better perspective on the needs of these underrepresented populations. Third, due to mental health as highly stigmatized health concern, social reporting may have been occurring, although the findings on self-reported mental health screening and diagnoses were similar to national studies with African Americans (Himle et al, 2009;Williams et al, 2007).…”