Promoting Policy and Environmental Change in Faith-Based Organizations: Outcome Evaluation of a Mini-Grants Program

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Community Health Interventions
• Health Promotion

Background:

• Rural South Georgia faces high rates of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
• The Emory Prevention Research Center's Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network funded church-based initiatives to promote healthy eating and physical activity.
• Understanding the impact of environmental changes within community settings is crucial for effective health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess changes in perceptions of the church health promotion environment over time.
• To determine the association between perceived environmental changes and healthy behaviors (eating and physical activity) at church and in general.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of church-based policy and environmental changes in promoting healthier lifestyles.

Main Methods:

• A single-group pre-post design with a 1-year follow-up was employed.
• 258 parishioners completed self-administered questionnaires assessing environmental perceptions and health behaviors.
• Data collected included perceptions of church nutrition and physical activity environments, eating behaviors, and physical activity intentions and behaviors.

Main Results:

• Perceived improvements in church nutrition environments were significantly associated with reduced consumption of unhealthy foods (p ≤ .05).
• Positive changes in church nutrition environments correlated with stronger intentions to use church physical activity resources (p ≤ .05).
• Perceived changes in the physical activity environment did not show a significant association with church or general health behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Church environments can play a significant role in supporting healthy eating behaviors within the church setting.
• While church nutrition environments show promise, the impact on physical activity behaviors and broader community settings remains uncertain.
• Further research is needed to explore the extent to which church-based health promotion influences extend beyond the church community.