Recorded presentation

John F. Yannessa, MS¹, Alice Lindeman, PhD, RD¹, and E. Lisako Jones-McKyer, PhD, MPH². (1) Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, HPER Building 116, 1025 East 7th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-7109, (812) 855-6797, jyanness@indiana.edu, (2) Indiana Prevention Resource Center, Indiana University, 2735 East 10th Street Room 110, Bloomington, IN 47408

Introduction: The desire to self treat is natural. To best understand the modalities that people use to heal, one must become aware of how various populations culturally define their healing systems. Many African-American communities link the body, mind, and spirit through the use of prayer as therapy. While some literature has focused on African Americans and prayer, relatively little is known about the use of prayer by African Americans for the purpose of improving health. The purpose of this research was to better understand the use of prayer therapy intended to improve health. Method: To better understand the complexities of the use of prayer for the purpose of improving health, a sample of African Americans (N=180; Age range 18-76 years, SD =12.5yrs) completed a questionnaire regarding their use of prayer to improve health. Results: Results suggest that praying for one’s own health by far occurred most frequently (89.4%). Nearly three quarters of the sample (70%) asked others to pray for their health; One third (37.2%) participated in a prayer chain for their health. Sacramental healing was not common (15.6%). Conclusions: These results suggest that African Americans use prayer in a variety of ways in an effort to improve their health. The use of prayer therapy as a form of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) has important implications that, if capitalized upon, will increase health care provider awareness of the African-American community perception of prayer as an avenue for health maintenance.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to recognize many of the unique ways in which prayer is used as a CAM therapy by African Americans communities.
• Participants will be able to describe the associations between healthcare system stigma and the use of prayer as a CAM therapy by a sample of African-Americans.
• Participants will be able to describe specific ways that the healthcare system can create linkages between African American communities and the healthcare system.

Keywords: African American, Community Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation