Hypertension Education and Screening in African American Churches

Abstract

A major disparity among African Americans is undiagnosed and uncontrolled hypertension. This exploratory study examined hypertension education and screening activities of 45 African American churches. A cross-sectional telephone survey was used to interview church representatives with knowledge of their church's health activities. Most churches (87%) offered at least 1 activity and 40% offered all 4 (i.e., screenings, materials, talks, health-fairs) within 2 years of the interview. Larger churches and those with an active health ministry offered more activities. More information about resources, program ideas, and collaborators was desired. Research is needed to examine factors that act as barriers and facilitators to implementing church based programs and to examine the effectiveness of these programs in reducing hypertension.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our appreciation to Patricia C. Clark, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, Professor in the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University, for her assistance with reviewing the manuscript and Shelley Baker-Hill, BS, RN who worked as a research assistant on the project.

Notes

This work was supported by a competitive, internal resource: the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing Faculty Development Grant.