Models and goals of engaging faith communities in public health efforts: A scoping review
Friday, October 13, 2023
9:30 AM – 10:45 AM ET
Location: Heron (Fourth Floor)
Public health leaders often engage faith communities to improve public health. According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), three factors strongly predict intentions to perform behaviors: attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms (values or beliefs), and perceived behavioral control. Religious beliefs and religiosity have been associated with these factors. TPB is used widely in health research and public health programs to study and alter health-related behaviors. In light of TPB, we would expect that public health leaders would seek to elicit, understand, and engage with faith communities’ beliefs and values that could shape attitudes toward the targeted behaviors, subjective norms regarding the behaviors, and perceptions of behavioral control. This could be particularly important when religious beliefs may lead to concerns with or objections to the targeted health behaviors, such as with vaccination and genetic and genomic healthcare (GGH). However, little is known about the tactics and mechanisms used to engage faith communities and the extent to which these interventions respectfully engage the communities’ values and attitudes that could influence factors likely to predict behavior. This presentation shares results of a scoping review designed to develop a taxonomy of models that public health leaders have used in engaging faith-based organizations or faith communities and the extent to which these models attend to attitudes, values, and perceptions of behavioral control. Given the significant ongoing investment of resources into public health engagement with faith communities, it is important to develop effective models to respectfully engage faith communities to improve public health outcomes.
Lauren Baker – Bioethics Research Center – Washington University in St. Louis School of Mecine; Kari Baldwin – Bioethics Research Center – Washington University in St. Louis School of Mecine; Lucas Cruz – Bioethics Research Center – Washington University in St. Louis School of Mecine; Lauren Yaeger – Becker Medical Library – Washington University in St. Louis School of Mecine; James DuBois – Bioethics Research Center – Washington University in St. Louis School of Mecine