Promoting Policy and Environmental Change in Faith-Based Organizations: Description and Findings From a Mini-Grants Program

• Published in: American journal of health promotion Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 192 - 199
• Main Authors: Arriola, Kimberly R. Jacob, Hermstad, April, Flemming, Shauna St.Clair, Honeycutt, Sally, Carvalho, Michelle L., Cherry, Sabrina T., Davis, Tamara, Frazier, Sheritta, Escoffery, Cam, Kegler, Michelle C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2017; American Journal of Health Promotion
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans; Aged; Behavior; Cancer; Change agents; Consumption; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Eating behavior; Environment; Environmental policy; Exercise; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food consumption; Georgia; Grants; Health education; Health Policy; Health promotion; Health Promotion - organization & administration; Healthy food; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Parishioners; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Policy making; Prevention; Prevention programs; Questionnaires; Regression Analysis; Religion; Religious cultural groups; Religious organizations; Rural communities; Rural Population; Sermons; Social Environment; United Kingdom > UK; South Georgia; Strategy: nutrition, policy; Target population circumstances: geographic location; Health focus: fitness/physical activity; Research purpose: modeling/relationship testing; Outcome measure: behavioral, Setting: local community; Nutrition Policy, Social Environment, Religion, Exercise, Prevention Research. Manuscript format: research; Target population age: adults; Study design: nonexperimental
• DOI: 10.4278/ajhp.150212-QUAN-724
• ISSN: 0890-1171; 2168-6602

Purpose. The Emory Prevention Research Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network mini-grant program funded faith-based organizations to implement policy and environmental change to promote healthy eating and physical activity in rural South Georgia. This study describes the existing health promotion environment and its relationship to church member behavior. Design. Cross-sectional. Setting. Data were obtained from parishioners of six churches in predominantly rural South Georgia. Subjects. Participants were 319 church members with average age of 48 years, of whom 80% were female and 84% were black/African-American. Measures. Questionnaires assessed perceptions of the existing church health promotion environment relative to nutrition and physical activity, eating behavior and intention to use physical activity facilities at church, and eating and physical activity behaviors outside of church. Analysis. Multiple regression and ordinal logistic regression using generalized estimating equations were used to account for clustered data. Results. Results indicate that delivering messages via sermons and church bulletins, having healthy eating programs, and serving healthy foods are associated with participants’ self-reported consumption of healthy foods at church (all p values ≤ .001). Serving more healthy food and less unhealthy food was associated with healthier eating in general but not to physical activity in general (p values ≤ .001). Conclusion. The church environment may play an important role in supporting healthy eating in this setting and more generally.