Faith Beliefs of African American Church Leaders Are Aligned With the Principles of Palliative and Hospice Care: A Community-Based Assessment and Intervention

Abstract

Background: African American (AA) church leaders often advise AAs with serious and life-limiting illnesses (LLIs). Objectives: 1) determine beliefs of AA church leaders about palliative care and hospice care (PCHC), 2) assess association of participants’ attitude about encouraging a loved one to learn about PCHC with whether PC or HC is consistent with faith beliefs and can reduce suffering and bring comfort, and 3) evaluate an interactive, educational intervention. Design: prospective, one group, pre and post assessment of beliefs and attitudes Settings/Subjects: 100 church leaders from 3 AA Churches and one AA Church Consortium. Results: At baseline, participants held more receptive beliefs about HC than about PC. Those who reported knowing the meaning of PC believed PC is consistent with their faith (81% vs 28%, phi=.53) and can reduce suffering and bring comfort (86% vs 38%, phi =.50). Participants who believed PC was consistent with their faith were more likely to encourage a loved one with a LLI to learn about PCHC than did participants who did not (100% vs 77%, phi =.39, p < 0.001). Post intervention, more participants: 1) perceived that they knew the meaning of PC (48% vs 96%), 2) viewed PC as consistent with their faith (58% vs. 94%), and 3) viewed PC as a means to reduce suffering and bring comfort (67% vs 93%) with a p < 0.0001 for each item. The post intervention results for HC were variable. Conclusions: Faith beliefs of AA Church leaders may be aligned with the principles of PCHC.

Advance Care Planning and End of Life Care Literacy Initiatives in African American Faith Communities: A Systematic Integrative Review

“…Importantly, the number of participants who viewed palliative care as consistent with their faith increased from pre-to posttest. 35 Although the results are not generalizable, these studies represent the growing body of literature in the field.…”

Church Matters

“…Churches are recognized as important settings for health promotion, especially in communities where access to important health-related services and knowledge may be lacking. 9,[19][20][21] Given the critical need to address the lack of ACP among African American adults, we sought to engage 2 predominantly African American churches to assess whether they would be interested in engaging in these conversations more formally within their church. Our research study had 2 specific aims:…”

“…This study explored the church as a context where credible role models can provide ACP training as a precursor to behavior change in the form of initiating conversations about preferences for EOL care. Churches are recognized as important settings for health promotion, especially in communities where access to important health-related services and knowledge may be lacking 9,19–21…”