Disease Messaging in Churches: Implications for Health in African-American Communities

Using the right messaging strategies, churches can help promote behavior change. Frequencies of disease-specific messages in 21 African-American churches were compared to overall and cancer-specific mortality and morbidity rates as well as church-level variables. Disease messages were found in 1025...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Harmon, Brook E. (Author)
Contributors: Chock, Marci (Other) ; Brantley, Elizabeth (Other) ; Wirth, Michael D. (Other) ; Hébert, James R. (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [2016]
In: Journal of religion and health
Year: 2016, Volume: 55, Issue: 4, Pages: 1411-1425
Further subjects:B Disease prevention
B health communication
B African Americans
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Using the right messaging strategies, churches can help promote behavior change. Frequencies of disease-specific messages in 21 African-American churches were compared to overall and cancer-specific mortality and morbidity rates as well as church-level variables. Disease messages were found in 1025 of 2166 items. Frequently referenced topics included cancer (n = 316), mental health conditions (n = 253), heart disease (n = 246), and infectious diseases (n = 220). Messages for lung and colorectal cancers appeared at low frequency despite high mortality rates in African-American communities. Season, church size, and denomination showed significant associations with health messages. Next steps include testing messaging strategies aimed at improving the health of churchgoing communities.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10943-015-0109-3