A.C.T.S of F.A.I.T.H: Actions Connected To Spirituality: Forming Alliances In Transforming Health

INTRODUCTION. Racial health disparities on Chicago's South Side (SS) are well-documented. African American (AA) churches are uniquely-positioned to address such disparities. Literature points to partnerships as a critical element of achieving improved health status. PURPOSE: AOF aimed to build a faith-based health equity network between SS AA churches and university partners using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. METHOD. Multimodal strategies were employed to build the AOF CBPR partnership. Qualitative interviews and focus groups and comprehensive health surveys were conducted with pastors, health ministry members, and church congregants to explore the role of the AA church in health disparities research; history of research partnerships; potential utility of AOF; and current health status and concerns across the 11 churches. RESULTS: AOF is a three-year CBPR partnership of 11 AA SS churches that has worked together with university partners to form a sustainable collaboration aimed to improve health status across 11 AOF churches and 10 communities where churches are located. Based on survey findings, the top health conditions of greatest concern among churches were: 1) obesity; 2) heart disease; 3) diabetes; 4) arthritis; and 5) asthma. Findings were used to inform the development of AOF's research and programmatic goals. This presentation will present the: 1) processes of forming and evaluating the AOF partnership; 2) formative qualitative and quantitative data; 3) collaborative strategies used to derive AOF's comprehensive faith-based health equity research, education, policy, and training agenda, and to develop interventions across those four domains.