Implementation of a Faith-Based Physical Activity Intervention: Insights from Church Health Directors

Abstract

Churches are becoming increasingly popular settings for conducting health promotion programs. Retrospective interviews were conducted with 19 health directors from churches taking part in the evaluation of a large-scale faith-based physical activity initiative. This paper first describes program implementation, church leadership support, and changes in church leadership, and then relates these variables to program outcomes (percentage of participants meeting physical activity recommendations). Finally, barriers and successes to program implementation are reported. The most commonly reported intervention activities implemented by churches were bulletin boards related to healthy eating and physical activity (79%) followed by bulletin inserts (69%), walking programs (58%), chair exercises (48%), praise aerobics (27%), a 10-min exercise CD (26%), and an 8 week behavior change class (26%). Significant increases in physical activity were associated with churches which had ever implemented the behavior change class at the 1-year follow-up. According to health directors, pastors sometimes to often spoke about physical activity and diet from the pulpit but rarely to sometimes took part in program activities. They also reported that pastors spouses' never to rarely spoke about physical activity and diet from the pulpit, and rarely to sometimes took part in program activities. About 68% of the churches had at least one change in pastor over the 3-year study. A majority of these variables, however, were not related to changes in physical activity. Potential reasons for these lack of associations are discussed.

Congregation-Based Programs to Address HIV/AIDS: Elements of Successful Implementation

“…Despite noted limitations in the availability of outcome data, 7,9 CBHPs have successfully addressed a range of health conditions (e.g., cardiovascular health, mental health, cancer, high cholesterol, and HIV prevention) and health-supporting activities (e.g., diet, physical activity, cancer screening, and smoking cessation). 3,[7][8][9] Congregations often engage in activities that require minimal effort or that match the services they already provide such as posting health information on bulletin boards, 11 however, the most successful programs are those in which more comprehensive services (e.g., using lay volunteers to deliver health messages, providing culturally relevant self-help materials, and facilitating access to telephone counseling) are offered. 7 Nevertheless, there are also several potential barriers to implementing health programs and in particular those addressing HIV within religious settings.…”

“…10 Involvement in health issues is likely due to the history of social engagement that many minority congregations share. 7,8,10,11 Their work on this issue is crucial since these organizations serve populations that may be skeptical of government public health efforts and are often underserved by public health and health care services. 7,8,10,11 Elements of Successful CBHPs There seems to be broad agreement that several factors are critical to the success of CBHPs, including relying on collaborative relationships with outside organizations, being sensitive to the specific cultural and spiritual context of the congregation in the development of such programs, and using CBPR methods to develop interventions.…”

The Development of Health for Hearts United: A Longitudinal Church-based Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Mid-life and Older African Americans

“…3 Further, much evidence suggests that health behavior change, such as increased fruit and vegetable consumption, increased physical activity, and improved health status, including lower body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and lower blood pressure, can occur as a result of church-based health programming. [4][5][6][7][8][9] However, church-based health research has several challenges. First, consistent with broader community interventions, few churchbased interventions have rigorous outcome evaluation data.…”

Results of a nine month home-based physical activity intervention for people living with HIV

“…4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Many of the physiological benefits of activity are a direct result of metabolic improvements (i.e. improved lipid panel, reduced waist circumference and body fat, etc.)…”

“…8,12,16 These interventions range from group-based classroom activities that emphasize behavior modification and education all the way to simple home-based approaches that incorporate weekly or bi-weekly telephone calls from a trained health educator. These strategies have been shown to be effective in a range of populations.…”