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J Relig Health (2014) 53:10911101
DOI 10.1007/s10943-013-9705-2
ORIGINAL PAPER
Michael L. Rowland E. Paulette Isaac-Savage
Published online: 7 April 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract The Black Church is the only institution that has consistently served the interest of African Americans, and there is no other institution in the African American community that rivals its inuence (Camara, 2004). The spiritual well-fare, social support, health, and well-being of its people have been one of its main goals. With health disparities of African Americans still at an alarming rate, the Black Church has used informal education as a means to impart knowledge on health, as well as other non-religious and religious topics. One of the avenues least researched within the Black Church is the pastors perception of its educational role in health and wellness and its efforts to reduce health discrimination and health disparities between African American and European Americans in the U.S. Since social justice appears as a theme and concern in the traditions of many churches, it is only appropriate that, among other things, the Black Church should address the issue of health education and interventions. The purpose of this study was to explore African American pastors perceptions of the role of the Black Church in providing health care, health education, and wellness opportunities to African Americans. Many pastors reported their church provided some form of health education and/or health screenings. Their perceptions about the important issues facing their congregants versus African Americans in general were quite similar.
Keywords African Americans Black Church Health disparities Health education
Pastors Perceptions
M. L. Rowland (&)
Medical Education Research Unit, University of Louisville School of Medicine, 500 South Preston Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USAe-mail: [email protected]
E. P. Isaac-Savage
Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis County, MO, USA
As I See It: A Study of African American Pastors Views on Health and Health Education in the Black Church
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Introduction
Discrimination in health care and health disparities among ethnic and racial groups continue to plague our country (Rowland and Chappel-Aiken 2012). African Americans continue to experience higher incidence rates of disease than most other groups. Some describe these incidents as injustices against African Americans....