Diabetes Intervention Strategies for Implementation in African American Church-Community Settings: Ratings on Importance and Feasibility

African Americans (AAs) are disproportionately diagnosed with diabetes and related complications, indicating the need for interventions addressing diabetes prevention in AA communities. Yet, no studies exist on development of interventions based on AAs’ selection of intervention strategies deemed to be important/feasible for long-term public health impact. Using a community-engaged approach, we conducted a needs assessment survey with AA church members to explore ratings on importance and feasibility of 14 possible multilevel, diabetes prevention and screening intervention strategies (e.g., pastor modeling active movement during praise/worship, cooking classes) for church-community settings. Findings indicated participants (N = 449 church members; 11 AA churches) rated the combined intervention strategies as “very important” and “very feasible” (mean score = 4.0 each, range = 1 - 5, respectively). Highest rated “important” strategies included coordinating prevention/management seminars with local diabetes organizations, and creating church-community sports leagues encouraging regular exercise. Highest rated “feasible” strategies included encouraging churches to serve healthy foods at church events and preparing samples of healthy foods during church-community events. Ratings of high importance were most likely found among participants who received a health screening in the past 12 months (p = .012). Ratings of high feasibility were significantly negatively related to length of time as a church member (p = .021). A collection of multilevel strategies identified as important/feasible by AA faith-community members, along with other strategies tailored for long-time church members, should be considered when developing faith-community-based interventions to increase reach of diabetes prevention, screening, and linkage to care services to more AAs.