Faith-based physical activity program begins
A faith-based physical activity initiative for the 276,000 members
of South Carolina’s AME churches was announced Dec. 6 at a statewide meeting
of pastors and church members at Allen University in Columbia.
AME
pastors and members participate in chair aerobics as they learn about the
new MUSC/USC/AME program designed to promote physical activity among church
members.
The project is a joint effort of the AME churches of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health in Columbia. It is funded by a three-year $1.26 million grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
MUSC and USC faculty and staff described the program to church members and demonstrated some of the physical activities that are part of the program. Included in the demonstration were chair exercises, a method of enabling the elderly and disabled to participate in physical activity, and praise aerobics, exercise aerobics done to gospel music.
MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., an epidemiologist with a particular interest in health disparities delivered the welcoming address to the group.
The MUSC and USC organizers asked for a volunteer from each church to coordinate the effort for members of that church. The volunteers will attend an all-day training program to learn to implement physical activity programs in his or her congregation. Programs include praise aerobics, chair exercises, walking clubs and the use of step counters to keep track of daily walking exercise. In addition, each volunteer will implement and an eight-week course, “8 Steps to Fitness,” in his or her congregation. These efforts will be supplemented by information provided by the Health-E-AME Web site. This Web site provides health information and culturally relevant risk reduction activities.
“There is no doubt that physical activity plays a critical role in preventing obesity and provides significant health benefits,” said Marilyn Laken, Ph.D., principal investigator for the project and director of special initiatives at MUSC. “Fifty-five percent of African American women and 44 percent of men report little or no physical activity, and some 66 percent are considered overweight by national standards. Our goal is to change these statistics for AME Church members and thereby positively affect two of the major health disparities affecting African Americans disproportionately—cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
Laken said that a planning committee of AME members and university representatives developed this program after evaluating numerous physical activity programs. Many other programs have not targeted African American, and those that did were generally focused on small populations. Also demonstration projects often cease when funding for the program ends. The approach of the AME/MUSC/USC program is culturally specific and builds sustainable local capacity reaching both urban and rural South Carolina African Americans. “We feel that the tie to the churches’ social support network will go a long way to making these efforts acceptable to participants and sustainable,” said Laken.
“We are very excited about the opportunity for USC’s Arnold School of Public Health and MUSC to work together with the AME churches of South Carolina to increase physical activity among South Carolina citizens,” said Sara Wilcox, Ph.D., an assistant professor at USC’s Arnold School of Public Health and co-principal investigator on the project.
“A major national health goal is to eliminate racial disparities in health outcomes, and we know that physical activity plays such a critical role in these efforts. Also, churches are a particularly useful setting to reach a diverse population of African Americans across the state,” Wilcox said. “USC will draw on its expertise in physical activity programming and measurement to develop the physical activity program and evaluate its effectiveness, based on substantial involvement and input from the AME churches.”
South Carolina church officials are actively encouraging participation in the program. “The faith-based physical activity program has the potential to literally save lives if we embrace and use the program,” said Dr. Allen W. Parrott, director, special projects of the South Carolina AME Church. “Our body is our temple, our unique gift from God. Every individual member, every congregation must fervently pray and work toward a healthier lifestyle.”
Bishop Henry Allen Belin Jr., presiding bishop of the AME Church in South Carolina, said that the program is a step in the right direction in eliminating the health disparities that exist in South Carolina. “I urge and encourage every congregation to adopt and use this program,” he said.
Potentially 276,000 members of AME churches in almost all of South Carolina’s
46 counties can participate in the project. If the approach is successful
in South Carolina, it will be expanded and has the potential of reaching
more than two million AME members nationwide.
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