{"id":1377,"date":"2011-03-01T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicalmattersjournal.ecdsdev.org\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2015-09-27T16:31:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-27T20:31:27","slug":"improving-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmcleanup.ecdsdev.org\/2011\/03\/01\/improving-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Health and Healthcare Advocacy through Engagement: A Faith-Based Community View"},"content":{"rendered":"
Download PDF: Toms, Lloyd, Carter-Edwards, Ellison<\/a><\/h5>\n
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ABSTRACT<\/h3>\n

This study of an intentional partnership between a coalition of African American faith-based leaders located in rural eastern North Carolina and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NC A&T), a Historically Black College\/University (HBCU), describes the engaged partnership between a faith-based organization and a university to build leadership capacity for addressing health, education, and economic disparities. It provides an overview of civic engagement activities and replicable methodologies. The authors offer findings, initial reflections on lessons learned, and promising practices for other faith-based organizations and universities in future partnering. The article demonstrates that community-university partnerships can and do impact the engagement practices of faith based leaders. Thus the study provides insight into the importance of planning, communication, and teaching practices grounded in the cultural and historical context of community.<\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

African American Churches and their members work to improve the health outcomes and healthcare advocacy for citizens by offering fitness classes, sponsoring health ministries that teach others to accurately administer medications, and actively engaging physicians, public officials, and community leaders. This perhaps represents the scenario that health and faith leaders believe is needed to address the health disparities facing this ethnic community in the US. Are there intersections in which the collective efficacy of religious leaders, community leaders, and university faculty can change the individual health and human service related practices of African American parishioners while affecting local health and human service policy?<\/p>\n

The relationship between spirituality and higher learning in African American communities has existed since diverse groups of African tribesmen with varied spiritual beliefs entered this country as slaves and found a common faith to be a path to social, economic, physical, and intellectual independence. This has evolved into higher education institutions that were originally outgrowths of the African American Church and are now exploring strategies for improving the health and wellbeing of the parishioners. The Christian church continues to play a unique role in the community. African Americans represent a significant share of those engaged in participatory faith.1<\/u> Although they represent thirteen percent of the adult population in the U.S., African Americans account for twenty-five percent of those involved in small group participatory faith and thirty percent of house church attendees.2<\/u> These figures are to be expected, given that the Church is the oldest institution in these communities.3<\/u><\/p>\n

Most of the documented evidence from interventions within African American churches comes from academic institutions. Despite the emergence of interventions to address a myriad of chronic diseases, these interventions have short-term success. The first reason for this is that people are not viewed as whole entities; there is, therefore, a failure to involve the spiritual, biological, and social integration of health.4<\/u> Second, the responsibility for change is placed solely on the individual. Long-term change requires understanding the whole person (including their spiritual side) and the role of the faith-based organization in the larger context.<\/p>\n

The most prominent academic institutions in African American communities are historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). Given the name HBCU in 1964, they originated as two to four-year institutions for the express purpose of educating former slaves residing primarily in the southeast United States. Organizations and groups such as the Freedmen’s Bureau, American Missionary Association, black churches, educators, political leaders, and some southern whites built the foundation and provided funding for these institutions because they understood the relationship between access to quality education and the betterment of a population’s social, political, and economic condition.5<\/u> HBCUs have developed into institutions focused on creating a supportive and structured environment for blacks and other races to pursue higher education. More recent studies have connected the research as well as the students of these institutions to potential advances in the healthcare outcomes for the African American community.6<\/u><\/p>\n

Despite previous research into the health issues among African Americans as well as the emergence of faith-based interventions in these populations, more research is needed to better understand and describe the implications of spirituality for the partnerships between universities and African American faith communities and the health outcomes from these partnerships. Research agendas focused on individual health practices have seldom considered the impacts of the process of engagement and the cultural context on organizational or individual outcomes. Exploring these relationships, particularly in a spiritual or faith-based context, may be critical in establishing the evaluation, accountability, modification, and sustainability of health programs. This type of inquiry may also lead to the development of innovative, integrative models of health policy for long-term community healthcare access.<\/p>\n

This paper is an ethnographic study of an intentional partnership between a coalition of African American faith-based leaders located in rural eastern North Carolina and NC Agricultural & Technical State University (NC A&T), an HBCU. The partnership seeks to develop and implement a community capacity building initiative around health and educational disparities. The study examines the dynamics of interorganizational relationships that influence and impact the effectiveness and sustainability of joint engagement by a faith-based organization (FBO) and university. This work uses observational and qualitative methods to obtain information about the perceptions, practices, and reflections of faith-based leaders regarding community engagement as a tool for enlisting the participation of parishioners in shaping their own health and human service outcomes. This research has implications for how religious attitudes coupled with training impact the social views and the health advocacy practices of religious leaders and their constituents.<\/p>\n

The authors (1) describe the engaged partnership between an FBO and university to build leadership capacity in the areas of health, education, and economic development; (2) highlight the foundational literature for developing engaged partnerships; (3) provide an overview of the methods and procedures used in a qualitative assessment of FBO’s perceptions and activities around civic\/community engagement; (4) present findings from the qualitative assessment; and (5) offer initial reflections and conclusions on lessons learned and promising practices for FBOs and universities in future partnering.<\/p>\n

Community Empowerment Network: A Brief Background<\/h3>\n

The Community Empower Network, NC (CEN) is a collaboration of forty Christian faith-based organizations representing sixteen counties in eastern North Carolina. CEN’s mission is to advance their communities through partnerships that thrive on economic development, superior education, and the elimination of health disparities. CEN was established in 2005 through support for Success Dynamics Community Development Corporation (SDCDC) from the North Carolina Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (OMHHD). One of its signature programs, the Community Health Ambassador Program (CHAP), started as a pilot program that currently operates in more than fifteen of the CEN churches by providing health screenings for diabetes and other health issues.7<\/u> The program has grown from six health ambassadors in 2005 to more than 350 in 2010. On top of this, health and wellness centers in churches grew from three in 2005 to twenty-three in 2010. Additionally, reported health education and fitness messages communicated to church members and the community increased from 102 in 2005 to 2196 in 2010. CEN-sponsored programs and activities included diabetes prevention, HIV\/STD training, kidney disease prevention, cancer prevention outreach, nonprofit management, leadership enhancement training, and financial planning for retirement and resource development. More than 460 citizens in the region participated in training activities, community forums, roundtable discussions, and civic engagement planning meetings between Fall 2007 and Spring 2010.<\/p>\n

North Carolina A&T State University: A Brief Background<\/strong><\/h3>\n

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is a public, land-grant university founded in 1891. This designation reflects its creation as an HBCU for the express purpose of supporting a threefold mission of teaching, research, and community outreach or extension for the segregated African American population of NC. The University offers degrees at the baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels and has a commitment to excellence in a comprehensive range of academic disciplines.<\/p>\n

NC A&T is increasingly engaged in promoting its mission, with particular growth in research and community outreach. Interinstitutional partnerships with other academic institutions in NC as well as community partnerships to promote health and wellness have led to the recognition of NC A&T as a visible hub for partnering in African American communities. The university has maintained its commitment to citizens through its continued support of Cooperative Extension and University outreach initiatives across the state. The Interdisciplinary Leadership Studies doctoral program has become the main vehicle for the institution’s mission of fostering transformation and leadership for a dynamic and global society.<\/p>\n

CEN and NC A&T Partnership<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The partnership between CEN and NC A&T is grounded in the shared belief that leadership and community capacity building are core building blocks for effective community engagement in African American communities. The partnership focuses on developing the capacity of CEN and its members. The Leadership Enhancement and Engagement Project (LEEP) and Participation Engagement and Practice (PEP) projects were implemented in 2007 as two parts of a comprehensive and long-term community capacity building initiative of Success Dynamics Community Development Corporation (SDCDC) and its faith-based program, CEN. The LEEP\/PEP project was designed to develop CEN’s capacity in three primary areas: (1) enhance CEN’s organizational capacity to plan, develop, implement, and sustain ongoing community engagement efforts; (2) develop and enhance the knowledge and skills of CEN churches to intentionally engage public officials and agencies around policy and resource distribution in the areas of health, educational, and economic disparities; and (3) provide CEN members with the training, multimedia educational tools, and community building skills to organize and encourage citizens to participate in the civic and political process.8<\/u> Components of the program included participatory research, four regional leadership institutes, four roundtable discussions with elected officials, and participation in a six-month civic engagement training session. The participants in a 2007 community needs assessment reported the following:<\/p>\n