Partnerships with African American Churches in NC: The Integration of Health Education and Ministry to Promote Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Body Image among African American Children

Reducing racial disparities in childhood overweight incidence requires the development of culturally appropriate innovative approaches. Working with the African American (AA) church, is one promising approach. The Black church plays a pivotal role in the lives of many AA families, and can serve as a powerful environment for health education and promotion efforts. Numerous studies have used school settings to promote healthy eating and physical activity (PA) in youth. Additionally, studies have effectively used the church environment to promote healthy dietary and PA behaviors among AA adults and adolescents. However, no studies have created a health curriculum to be integrated into the existing church Sunday School educational structure for young AA children. Furthermore, church-based programs for children have neglected to create curricula that include contextually relevant faith-based messages. Therefore, the aims of this pilot project were to: 1) conduct formative focus groups with AA children, parents, and church leadership from three AA churches in Durham, NC to examine the relationship between spirituality and health, the role of the church in health promotion, and current knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding dietary practices, physical activity, and body image among AA families; and 2) form a Community Advisory Board that worked in partnership with UNC researchers to develop a 12-week faith-based curriculum aimed to increase dietary and PA knowledge and to promote healthy eating, PA, and positive body image among AA children. Five focus groups (N=38) were conducted and themes were derived using NVivo7. Focus group data were used to inform curriculum development.