Changes in social support over time in a faith-based physical activity intervention

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Health Promotion

Background:

• African-American women experience higher chronic disease rates and church engagement.
• Church-based health promotion programs are increasingly developed to address these disparities.
• Existing programs require evaluation for their impact on psychosocial factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare changes in religiosity, religious social support, and general social support over time.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of faith-integrated (FI), non-faith integrated (NFI), and control (C) programs.
• To assess the role of social support in church-based physical activity interventions.

Main Methods:

• A clustered randomized controlled trial involving 31 churches and approximately 15 African-American women per church.
• Participants were randomized into three 10-month programs: FI, NFI, or C.
• Comparisons of religiosity and social support were made between baseline and 10-month assessments.

Main Results:

• A significant reduction in general social support was observed across all study groups.
• Private religious practices increased in the control group (C).
• Religious emotional support increased in the faith-integrated group (FI).

Conclusions:

• Demonstrating strong, consistent changes in religiosity and social support within health interventions is challenging.
• Further research is needed to refine measures of religiosity and social support.
• Findings inform the design and implementation of future church-based health promotion studies, particularly regarding social support dynamics.