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FFaith, AActivity, & NNutritionFaith Based Quarterly Meeting

February 23, 2015

Sara Wilcox, PhD & Kimberly Arnold, MPHUniversity of South Carolina

Prevention Research Center

Overview Brief description of the Faith,

Activity & Nutrition (FAN) Program What is it? How will churches benefit? What are churches asked to do / what

are the next steps? Progress since the November

meeting Brainstorming: getting more

churches on board

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New Opportunity for Fairfield County Churches Grant from the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention Awarded to the University of South Carolina

(Columbia) Partners:

Clemson University Fairfield Behavioral Health Services Fairfield Community Coordinating Council Fairfield County Churches [Next phase: United Methodist and Baptist Convention]

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What is the Faith, Activity, and Nutrition (FAN) Program? Helps churches to create a “healthy church environment” Helps churches increase

opportunities; set guidelines / practices; enlist Pastor & leader support; get messages out through the church

Focuses on physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) PA goal: 150 mins/wk

of moderate-intensity PA

HE goals: fruits, vegetables, whole grains; fat & sodium

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Why is FAN Important? Fairfield County has higher

mortality rates than the state, for example: Heart disease mortality: 248.3

vs 185.7 (per 100,00) Stroke mortality: 61.7 vs 49.8

(per 100,000)

Health disparities exist by: Race/ethnicity Level of income Rural residence

5Sources: http://www.scdhec.gov/Health/Docs/CHIT/Fairfield.pdf; http://www.scdhec.gov/Library/CR-004470.pdf

Fairfield County fares worse than the state on chronic disease & health behaviors: Obesity: 41.0% vs 32.4% Diabetes: 19.7% vs 10.4% Any PA in last 30 days:

55.6% vs. 73.0%

All of these conditions are affected by PA and HE!

How will FAN Benefit Churches? FAN offers a free

workshop, materials and support to help churches create a healthy church environment

FAN can help church members reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases & better manage existing disease

Healthy church members are more likely to be productive, engaged, and giving church members

Meeting physical needs of members is consistent with Bible teachings

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How Does FAN Work?

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Fairfield County Churches interested in participating

Random assignment

Immediate Training (40) Delayed Training (20)

Telephone interviews: Pastors & Coordinators

USC visits (church & neighborhood; member surveys)

Training

Telephone interviews: Pastors & Coordinators

Telephone interviews: Pastors & Coordinators

0 mosOct 2015

-1 mo

9-12 mos

12 mos

12 mosOct 2016

24 mos

What Are All Churches Asked To Do - VERY SOON?

1. Make a commitment to be a part of this program & study

2. Understand that your church may be selected (at random) to be trained in October 2015 or October 2016

3. Identify a church member to be the FAN Coordinator: Knows the church

culture & operations well

Active member

Has good relations with church leaders

Is passionate about health

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What Are All Churches Asked To Do – FAIRLY SOON? Take part in a telephone

screening Churches of any size can

take part in the training, but to be enrolled in the study & receive stipend: > 20 active members room for improvement in

the area of physical activity and healthy eating

Agree to send a committee to a one-day training workshop

Agree to have FAN-identified leaders take part in a brief telephone survey 3 times over 2 years

Agree to have FAN-identified leaders take part in brief monthly telephone calls

Agree to “random assignment” of when you will be trained

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What Are All Churches Asked To Do Who ENROLL in FAN? Take part in a 20-

minute telephone survey before learning when you will be trained & again 12 months and 24 months later Pastor FAN Coordinator Small incentive

Help coordinate a visit to your church by USC staff (about 9-12 months after the telephone survey) Anonymous surveys of

members Observation of church

and neighborhood environment

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What Are Churches Asked To Do When it is Their Turn For TRAINING? Attend a full-day training workshop (10/2015 or

10/2016) 3-5 members of your church

Pastor, FAN Coordinator, person responsible for cooking or catering decisions

Others passionate about health, physical activity, and/or healthy eating

Take part in monthly telephone calls for 12 months Designed to help churches put FAN into place and

overcome challenges Rotation: Pastor, FAN Coordinator, Lead of Kitchen Staff

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What Have We Done Since November? Developed complete listing of Fairfield County

churches with contact information Worked on revising / creating all training materials

for this new project Worked on developing our program evaluation

measures Evaluation of FAN and not evaluation of

churches! E.g., “What are some factors that it make it

more or less likely that FAN will be put into place in a given church?”

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Brainstorming: We Need YOUR Help! We need to reach

70 Fairfield County churches to take part in FAN!

How do we reach churches that aren’t here tonight?

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We Are Also Looking For…. Up to 2 lay members passionate about health to

be trained as Community Health Advisors:

Train other churches and to provide technical assistance - 2 yr commitment

Small stipend provided Some health background ideal, but

not required

Please contact Ms. Cheryl Goodwin at 803-635-2335 ext. 20 or cgoodwin@fairfieldbhs.org if you are interested in learning more

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Questions?