Posted 3/19/2008

Program doesn’t preach to church members, rather
involves them in setting goals

"Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 1:2)

Dr. Sara Wilcox of the Arnold School’s Department of Exercise Science is engaging a group of AME churches in eastern and central South Carolina to promote physical activity and healthy eating among congregants.

Dr. Sara Wilcox

If the five-year program is successful, the church will encourage use of it by all of the denomination's 476,000 members in the state.

Wilcox said the program, titled "Faith, Activity, and Nutrition (FAN)," also involves scientists at Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina.

Wilcox is principal investigator; co-investigators include Marilyn Laken (MUSC), Allen W. Parrott (AME church), Marge Condrasky (Clemson), Ruth Saunders (USC), Cheryl Addy (USC), Marsha Dowda (USC), and Rebecca Evans (AME Church).

Wilcox has worked on similar research involving the AME Church and the new program will build on that relationship.

She describes FAN as a faith-based effort that gives church leaders an opportunity to do some self-assessment of their churches and "select things they can do to help members eat healthier and be more physically active."

The study also uses a community-based participatory research approach that engaged church members in the design of the program from the start.

The study will initially involve 60 churches and 1,600 members. The study has begun in the Kingstree and Georgetown areas with churches that belong to the Palmetto Conference, the largest subdivision of the state church with approximately 50,000 local members. The program will also begin in Columbia area in the next several months.

The effort is culturally and spiritually sensitive and aimed at helping church leaders incorporate health living guidelines and practices into church activities.

One example, Wilcox says, is that churches may decide that fresh fruits and vegetables be on the menu at any church activity that features food.

Wilcox said the AME Church and other African-American denominations have undertaken new responsibilities for the health of their members because of their unique role in the black community.

The reasons for that include the wide health disparities in the black community along with an increasing need for guidance in helping people live healthier.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, an arm of the National Institutes of Health, is funding the research.

For more information on the program, visit the program website at http://www.sph.sc.edu/exsc/wilcox/fan.htm.