Black Churchgoers Research Articles

Abstract A133: The Church Study: Bridging the gap in colorectal cancer screening of Black patients

Abstract Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US, disproportionately affecting Black Americans with a 25% higher risk and 40% greater mortality than non-Hispanic White Americans. Data on CRC screening preferences among Black patients is limited. We conducted a survey to evaluate CRC screening preferences and barriers to screening after a culturally tailored educational talk among Black churchgoers. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the preferences and barriers to CRC screening among Black Americans, utilizing culturally tailored educational interventions to enhance screening uptake. Methods: Participants aged 45-85, at average CRC risk, were recruited from three predominantly Black churches in disadvantaged areas of Atlanta, excluding high-risk individuals and those outside the age range. CRC education, vetted for cultural sensitivity, was provided. Informed consent was waived by Morehouse IRB but ensured through educational sessions with opportunities for questions. A 30-question survey covered Demographics, Medical History, Screening Experience, and Preferences. Participants received a $25 Amazon gift card post-survey. Descriptive statistics were applied to demographics and CRC screening preferences, categorized per NCCN guidelines. Results: Out of 101 participants, 64% preferred blood-based screenings and 19% preferred fecal-based testing. Over 73% reported being up-to-date with CRC screening, with more than 61% having a colonoscopy as their most recent CRC screening test. Additionally, 30% of participants were willing to be CRC awareness advocates. Healthcare provider access was high, with 94% reporting having a primary care provider. Trust in providers was approximately 92%, with 4% expressing distrust and 4% uncertain. Conclusions: Despite being in underserved areas, participants reported no significant barriers to CRC screening, with most up-to-date on prevention. Their active participation and willingness to advocate underscore the effectiveness of church settings in health education for Black communities. Preferences for blood-based screenings indicate openness to less invasive options, highlighting the need for tailored interventions. High trust in healthcare providers challenges the narrative of mistrust among African Americans, demonstrating that culturally sensitive, community-focused engagement enhances preventive health participation. The willingness of 30% to become CRC awareness advocates demonstrates strong potential for community-driven health initiatives. Citation Format: Toni M. Jackson, John Onyekaba, Kingsley K. Njoku, Ankita Shah, Carrie Smith, Chima Amadi, Kapil Chandora, Daniela Ortegasantori, Hafsa Gundroo, Temitope Tobun, Daniel Hommes, Julia Liu. The Church Study: Bridging the gap in colorectal cancer screening of Black patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A133.

Abstract A099: Black church-goers who most recently sought cancer information from certain sources are less likely to have ever undergone colorectal cancer screening and thus less likely to benefit from early detection

Abstract Purpose: Black adults have the highest colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality rates of any racial group in America. Early detection through CRC screening may improve survival outcomes; however, CRC screening uptake is lower for Black adults than White adults. To uncover opportunities to address these inequities, we examine where Black adults prefer to obtain cancer information, where they most recently sought such information, and whether either was associated with CRC screening behavior. Methods: Participants were a convenience sample of Black men and women recruited from 3 churches in Houston, Texas. Self-reported data included preferred source of cancer information (doctor or health care provider (collectively, “providers”), cancer organization, social network, internet, or “other media” (i.e., books, brochures, pamphlets, the library, magazines, newspapers)), most recent source of cancer information (same categories as preferred), and having ever been screened for CRC. A logistic regression model controlling for recruitment site, sociodemographic variables (e.g., sex, education), personal and family history of cancer, worries and perceptions about cancer risk, and satisfaction with patient-provider communication examined associations between preferred and most recent source of cancer information, respectively, and CRC screening behavior. Results: The sample included 751 Black adults aged >50 (Mage=59.1+6.6, 24% male), with data collected before the pandemic. Overall, 57.9% of respondents indicated their preferred source of cancer information was a provider, 19.6% the internet, 11.5% other media, 10% a cancer organization, and 1.1% their social network. Overall, 21% indicated their most recent source of cancer information was a provider, 57.3% the internet, 13.5% other media, 4.7% a cancer organization, and 3.6% their social network. About 83.6% of participants had ever been screened for CRC. Results indicated that those who most recently sought information from other media had lower odds of having ever been screened for CRC than those who most recently sought information from a provider (aOR: 0.489, CI95%: 0.245-0.976). There were no significant associations between preferred source of cancer information and CRC screening behavior. Conclusion: These results reveal an opportunity to encourage Black church-goers to obtain cancer information from providers rather than from other media as a method to enhance CRC screening use. Encouragement to seek this information directly from a provider could, for example, come from health ministries, church newsletter or email communications, the church’s website, and/or the pulpit. These results also reveal an opportunity to investigate what modifiable social determinants or other factors prevent Black church-goers from seeking cancer screening information from their provider as opposed to other media, especially considering most of the sample preferred to get this information from a provider, as one part of a multi-pronged approach to help mitigate racial inequities in CRC screening behavior. Citation Format: Brian J. Carter, Tzuan A. Chen, Dalnim Cho, Lorna H. McNeill, Shahnjayla K. Connors, Lorraine R. Reitzel. Black church-goers who most recently sought cancer information from certain sources are less likely to have ever undergone colorectal cancer screening and thus less likely to benefit from early detection [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A099.

Healing for the Soul: Richard Smallwood, the Vamp, and the Gospel Imagination, by Braxton D. Shelley

<i>Healing for the Soul: Richard Smallwood, the Vamp, and the Gospel Imagination</i>, by Braxton D. Shelley

Faith, Fear, and Facts: A COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy Intervention for Black Church Congregations.

Background: Blacks are dying from the novel coronavirus of 2019 (COVID-19) at disproportionate rates and tend to have more COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than Whites. These disparities may be attributable to health knowledge and government/medical mistrust stemming from negative experiences with the medical system historically and presently (e.g., the Tuskegee Experiment, provider maltreatment). Method: The present study assessed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and the effectiveness of a 1.5 h, dialogue-based, web intervention hosted by an academic–community partnership team. The webinar included approximately 220 male and female, English speaking, Black churchgoers in the western U.S. The webinar focused on the psychology of fear and facts about the vaccine development. Results: The sample was mostly females who had higher vaccine hesitancy than men. A third of participants feared hospitalization if they contracted COVID-19. Many participants reported that learning facts about COVID-19 was most impactful. Statistical analyses indicated an increased willingness to get vaccinated after the webinar in comparison to before (t(25) = −3.08, p = 0.005). Conclusion: The findings suggest that virtual webinars may be effective at reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black churchgoers and may be applicable in addressing other health behaviors.

Whiteness or Resilience? Placing Terror by Studying the Charleston, South Carolina Mother Emanuel Church Shooting

ABSTRACTHow do ideas of place support the development of racialized identities in times of terror violence? We situate this paper in the “deep” south via the shooting of 9 black churchgoers by a white supremacist. We explore how the community mobilized after the massacre, and in what ways it relied on ideas of place. While many claimed that the community exemplified resilience, we demonstrate a process of re-racialization. We analyzed local media to document place framing. This frame was recirculated in reporting of residents’ expressions about the tragedy. We conducted interviews with community leaders to deepen our understanding. We find that while place played a powerful role in the resilience narrative, the resilience was ultimately one of a city of whiteness. We advance several points: (1) whiteness adapts in times of terror; (2) place is important in the security studies; and (3) place also plays a role in attenuating fear.

Bonds of Union: Religion, Race, and Politics in a Civil War Borderland by Bridget Ford

Reviewed by: Bonds of Union: Religion, Race, and Politics in a Civil War Borderland by Bridget Ford Jeffrey Thomas Perry (bio) Bonds of Union: Religion, Race, and Politics in a Civil War Borderland by Bridget Ford. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Pp. 424. Cloth, $45.00.) Examining the Ohio–Kentucky borderland from 1830 to 1865, Bridget Ford describes Americans' attempts to conceptualize and realize the "bonds of union" holding them together. But more specifically than "union," Ford is interested in the "imagined connections" that linked the disparate population of the Ohio Valley amidst sectional fervor and fracture (xviii). In three parts, she brings to life how Americans' lived experience in matters of faith, race, and politics checked divisive tendencies and helped secure the Union. [End Page 189] Ford begins with a survey of the Ohio Valley's booming religious landscape during the antebellum era. As Cincinnati and Louisville emerged as important economic and cultural hubs, Protestant churches flourished, establishing a range of missionary and educational associations. Their Catholic counterparts also witnessed institutional growth in the 1840s and 1850s alongside increased immigration of Germans and Irish. Protestants feared the influx of Catholics and warned of Papist designs to undermine republican institutions. In other instances, they turned to violence, setting city blocks ablaze or firing cannons into immigrant neighborhoods. Despite this friction, Ford asserts that especially in urban areas Protestants and Catholics grew to look quite similar. Seeking to retain or gain adherents, Catholics adopted the more personal, even revivalist speaking style that evangelists had perfected, while Protestants embraced medieval architectural styles virtually synonymous with Catholicism. Taking the edge off of doctrinal disputes, Ford concludes that these new rhetorical and architectural "styles of persuasion" "encouraged residents to lower their defenses" and "imagine bonds between unlike persons and things" (63). In Part II, Ford directs her attention to race relations, asserting that the racial ideas nurtured, if not realized, in antebellum Ohio and Kentucky "might well be considered harbingers of national trends for the nineteenth century" (91). Though many in Louisville called for the colonization of free blacks, and despite the fact that a steady influx of free blacks and escaped slaves to Cincinnati had led to a series of race riots, violence, and a revival of Ohio's dormant Black Codes, Ford contends that blacks and whites in both cities "found it impossible to live without the assistance of the other in the competitive market economy of antebellum urban America" (121). The white bourgeoisie needed black menial labor: domestics, barbers, dressmakers—occupations housing some of the cities' top black wage earners. Free blacks, moreover, depended upon their white patrons for the protection of their property and other civil rights. Prominent black churches did not hesitate to form key connections with whites in their fight against colonization. North and south of the Ohio River, antislavery reformers—even more so than their eastern counterparts—praised the benefits of education and literacy for civic equality. By highlighting blacks' intellectual capacities and personal subjectivity, antislavery fiction writers allowed whites to grapple with the potential of a biracial society. Reformers' educational focus also [End Page 190] expanded public schooling opportunities for black children in Ohio and forged a closer connection between African Americans and the state. This focus on literacy, reading, and universal common schooling, Ford concludes, "helped to make enlightenment a bond of union at a pivotal moment" (200). Part III looks to the Ohio Valley's role in the sectional controversy and Civil War. Although Cincinnati and Louisville served as important entrepôts for the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, "blunting the force of northerners' and southerners' divergent interests through the mysterious workings of commerce," in the 1840s the cities' Protestant churches were at the forefront of the sectionalization of the religious landscape (203). While church-goers in Cincinnati were adopting a radical anti-slavery stance, their Kentucky counterparts spearheaded the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church–South. Baptists and Presbyterians also flocked to sectionally based denominations. Careful to illuminate the role of black church-goers in shaping the views and actions of whites, Ford argues that evangelicals in Ohio and Kentucky, by steering their "congregations into separate denominations and toward radically...

Congregational Composition and Explanations for Racial Inequality Among Black Religious Affiliates.

Prior research suggests that congregational characteristics are associated with the racial attitudes of Black churchgoers. This study examines the relationship between congregational diversity and beliefs about the Black/White socioeconomic gap among Black religious adherents. Drawing upon pooled data from the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study, we fit binary logistic regression models to estimate the association between congregational size and the explanations of Black/White economic inequality among Black religious adherents. Findings from our study reveal that congregational diversity is one factor that accounts for intragroup differences in racial attitudes among Black religious affiliates. Relative to Blacks that attend religious services in overwhelmingly Black congregations, Blacks that attend religious services in congregations that are overwhelmingly White and are overwhelmingly comprised of non-Black racial/ethnic minorities are significantly less likely to attribute Black/White socioeconomic gaps to structural factors. Our study demonstrates that congregational diversity is a source of intragroup variation in racial attitudes among Black religious affiliates, which may attenuate the ability of such congregations to bridge racial divisions.

Diet, Alcohol Use, and Colorectal Cancer Screening among Black Church-goers.

Interventions for colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention among black adults are needed. Connections between CRC screening non-adherence and other health risk behaviors may inform intervention development. Associations between red meat (RM) and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption, at-risk alcohol use, and CRC ever-screening were examined using adjusted logistic regressions among 520 church-going black adults in Houston, Texas, aged >50. In the final adjusted model, being younger, uninsured, eating more RM and engaging in at-risk alcohol use were associated with lower likelihood of CRC ever-screening. Church-based interventions to increase CRC screening among black adults might capitalize on associations with RM consumption and alcohol use behaviors as part of a broader wellness promotion initiative.

Individual religious involvements in America across time

Purpose– This paper aims to characterize those who take part in three different type religious activities (prayers, monetary donations and worship attendances) in the USA using 1972-2010 General Social Survey pooled data.Design/methodology/approach– The authors have identified factors that affect each activity using Tobit analysis.Findings– There are only three common factors (marriage, race and parental background) that influence all of these three activities and the directions of impacts are not the same. Black churchgoers are more engaging in all of these three activities, the same is true for those whose parents attend church regularly. However, marriage has positive impacts on both worship attendances and monetary donations, but has negative impacts on prayers.Originality/value– This paper contributes by breaking down giving into three categories and using 38 years of pooled data in the US General Social Survey.

“What Happened to All the Protests?” Black Megachurches’ Responses to Racism in a Colorblind Era

Before and during the Civil Rights era, mass protests were very effective in bringing attention to blatant racial inequalities. How do black churches address racism that seemingly is not there in a post-Civil Rights colorblind era? A growing trend amongst black churchgoers in the post-Civil Rights period is that of megachurches and neo-Pentecostalism. While both black megachurches and neo-Pentecostal churches tend to preach a theology of self-empowerment, this is just one of a range of theologies that may be preached in these churches. In a content analysis of the 2008 Easter sermons of three neo-Pentecostal megachurches in Maryland, I address how the type of theology preached in black megachurches can correspond with the way a collective racial identity is constructed, which could therefore influence how racism is resisted.

Nature, Environment and Beauty: An Examination of the Beliefs of Modern Black Churchgoers and John Muir

AbstractThis qualitative research examined participants in environment-related projects in Miami, Florida, who were Black churchgoers driven by a sense of spirituality and stewardship. An examination of interviews and participant observations demonstrated that participants were strongly influenced by a shared concept of "beauty" in nature. This use of the word and concept of "beauty" to refer to nature was connected both to Black history and religion in inspiring participants' actions and attitudes toward environmental preservation. This emphasis on "beauty" as it relates to nature was independent from, yet quite similar to, the idea and language of spiritual "beauty" displayed in the writings of early U.S. conservationist John Muir. These similarities suggest commonalities where sometimes only division is perceived, and underscore the importance and applicability of interconnectedness in the contemporary environmental protection movement.

Modern Black Churchgoers in Miami-Dade County, Florida

Leaving behind rural, land, and sea-dependent, and strongly place-based existences, many Blacks immigrated to Miami, Florida from the rural United States south and from the Bahamas during the first half of the twentieth century. This Black diaspora retains contacts, from sister-church relationships, to family ties, to the deep power of memory, that connect these Miami settlers to their ‘homelands’. This research was ethnographically based and took place among churchgoing Blacks in Miami. Research included participant observation at various churches in addition to over fifty interviews with congregants framed by three in-depth case studies. The findings revealed connections to the natural environment among churchgoing Blacks influenced by these place-centered memories of their youth. From their love of plants to knowledge of agriculture, fishing and land-use patterns to the concept of sharing food and self-sufficiency, their rural and/or island roots had profound impacts on how these subjects perceived the interaction between people and nature. The interpretations of nature that sprang from the diasporic experience were manifested in environmental attitudes, concerns, and select activism that demonstrated the potential to affect positively urban and suburban neighborhoods and nature.

Black Churchgoers, Environmental Activism and the Preservation of Nature in Miami, Florida

Abstract This paper examines connections in three case studies of in Miami and their views toward the natural environment, from environmental attitudes to activism. There were four major findings in the research. First, there is a link between the preservation of history and the preservation of the environment among who feel a strong connection to rural life. Second, these case studies dispute the stereotype of as less concerned about the environment due to pressing social concerns in neighborhoods. This stereotype artificially separates environmental and social issues. Third, public access to public lands is a basic and important right espoused by these churchgoing activists. Fourth, spirituality impacts environmental sentiments among Miami's churchgoing Blacks. Possessing an understanding of how spirituality, history and local concerns relate to the environment adds to the sparse literature on the subject. The discussion also provides information for policy makers interested in bridging gaps between and the mainstream environmental protection movement, to the benefit of both local communities and the overall ecosystem. Introduction Deacon Baldwin, clad in overalls, stood in the searing Florida sun of September, 2001, and mused about what had brought him to this place. He had recently orchestrated the planting of over six hundred native trees by volunteers. This tree-planting project took place on the outskirts of Miami in foliage-barren Richmond Heights, a settled by service men after World War II. Deacon Baldwin revealed through his actions and words the essence of how many churchgoing Blacks in South Florida connect the natural world and the environment to their lives: I was intrigued by the nature, the sun and the rain. Belle Glade [Florida] had such rich soil. You could plant anything and it would grow there. I like to plant things. I believe in nature. Now I've got a generation coming after me that's going to be successful. The way to deal with it is history, environment and church (Baldwin, interview, 2001). For more than two years during 2001 to 2003, I explored environmental preservation and activism through ethnographic research, including qualitative interviews and participant observation, among three groups of churchgoing Blacks in Miami, Florida. The term is used in this paper rather than African American because the majority of my interviewees seemed most comfortable with that self-description, and I attempted to respect participants' opinions and use of language throughout this study. These study groups included Blacks with ancestry in Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica and the U.S. south, among other locales. I chose to examine them collectively as attendees of churches where most congregants had race in common, but not necessarily place of origin. Participants self-defined their volunteer projects, such as preservation of Miami's historic Black beach, as dealing with Black history. They described their proposed nature camps and their realized tree plantings as dealing with people from the neighborhood who shared race in common, but not necessarily place of birth. This examination of the category of Black churchgoers might not have been a useful grouping had all of my case studies taken place in churches in a strong ethnic enclave such as Miami's Little Haiti, where many people come from a fairly small geographic region. However, most of my research took place in neighborhoods or involved church (or multi-church) projects where the ancestry of participants was more geographically diverse, therefore the broadness of the group seemed appropriate. A note must also be made that several participants clarified that their churches/projects were not just for Blacks but were welcoming to all. The results of my research indicate that there are several key aspects of the relationship between in South Florida and the natural environment. …