Women’s Health Promotion in the Rural Church: A Canadian Perspective

Abstract

The rural church may be an effective health resource for rural Canadian women who have compromised access to health resources. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of the Christian church and faith community nurses in promoting the health of rural Canadian women in the evolving rural context. The findings from an extensive literature search reveal that religion and spirituality often influence the health beliefs, behaviors, and decisions of rural Canadian women. The church and faith community nurses may therefore be a significant health resource for rural Canadian women, although this phenomenon has been significantly understudied.

A Rural Appalachian Faith-Placed Smoking Cessation Intervention

“…Voorhees et al’s observed that the “propensity of Baptist churches to address smoking ‘as a sin’ and to negatively sanction it, may play an important role in enabling culturally specific spiritual interventions” (p. 282, Voorhees et al 1996) This observation may no longer be as salient as it once was, or may not apply to an Appalachian population. As Plunkett and Leipert (2013) note, health promotion in rural churches may be most acceptable when it converges closely with the church’s healing mission; when programming diverges from the church’s values, beliefs, and norms, such efforts may be thwarted. Fortunately for the hundreds of Appalachian smokers enrolled in this study, ministers did not describe smoking as sinful or smokers as sinners.…”

“…(Kosmin and Keyser 2008) Additionally, public health and faith communities’ goals often overlap and are mutually advantageous and reinforcing: many faith communities support efforts to improve physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, while the public health community often acknowledges that social and spiritual support from churches reinforce health promotion efforts. (Plunkett and Leipert 2013) Finally, FBHP is often efficacious, with results frequently demonstrating increased knowledge of disease, willingness to engage in primary and secondary prevention activities, and reduced risks associated with disease. (Kaplan et al 2006; Studts et al 2012)…”

“…(Corbie-Smith et al 2003; Leonard 1999; Lumpkins 2013) For many small, poor, rural communities, churches have been the only existing and sustainable organizational infrastructure, thus positioning the church to play a central role in community life and information-sharing. (Campbell et al 2007; Plunkett and Leipert 2013; Thomas et al 1994) Similar to the key roles of many African-American pastors, Appalachian pastors (some of whom in our project are also African-American), take on numerous and multidimensional healing roles, including serving as counselors, health educators and advocates, and even agents of change against stigmatized behaviors. (Leonard 1999; Levin 1986; Lumpkins 2013)…”

Healthy Spaces in Meaningful Places

“…Because churches are often value-laden places with significant ties to religious doctrine, the effectiveness of health promotion initiatives may be influenced by a church’s capacity to be compatible with the health-promoting values and beliefs of rural individuals and communities (Plunkett & Leipert, 2013). Congruency between values, beliefs, and cultural norms of churches and the community-at-large needs to be reflected on prior to initiating health-promoting programs in order to elucidate any possible conflicting values (Campbell et al, 2007).…”

Understanding Women’s Health Promotion and the Rural Church

“…Much of the literature related to health and the church describes health outcomes associated with various forms of religious participation from a postpositivistic perspective (Koenig, King, & Carson, 2012; Plunkett & Leipert, 2013). Often, such research contains little to no gender- or place-based analysis.…”