abstract: 'PURPOSE: Widespread prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) requires

  significant aggregate lifestyle behavior changes. Extensive resources

  including money, time, access, facilities, materials, and programs are

  needed to bring about such behavior changes on a large scale. Over the

  past several decades, funds for large scale public health efforts and

  related CVD research have become more difficult to acquire, and

  prevention efforts have been shifting to state and community sites.

  Thus, large scale behavior modification for CVD prevention requires

  active efforts to access resources from partnerships with multiple

  private sector organizations.

  METHODS: Religious organizations (ROs) are a potentially valuable

  channel with many advantages for undertaking behavior change programming

  in partnership with public health researchers. ROs have a broad, direct

  `''reach'''' with people and provide social support structures, facilities,

  volunteers, communication channels and access to many sub-populations as

  well as a compatible mission and history of interest in health. In spite

  of the many advantages of partnerships between CVD health researchers

  and ROs, very few formal research studies have been conducted. Existing

  reports have emphasized the feasibility and powerful benefits of

  implementing RO-based health programs; however, little data or formal

  hypothesis testing have been reported. Very few formal CVD research

  projects have employed scientifically acceptable research designs with

  random assignment of intact groups to intervention and comparison

  conditions.

  RESULTS: In this review, conducted by the current authors, only six

  projects have been identified that meet these more rigorous scientific

  criteria. In a discussion of these projects, we classify RO-based

  studies into four levels of involvement of the RO: 1) use of ROs as

  sites for recruitment and tracking of experimental subjects; 2) use of

  RO facilities to conduct interventions; 3) involvement of RO members in

  delivering behavior change programs; and 4) the addition of significant

  religious components as an integral part of the intervention. This paper

  discusses the design, results and implications of these studies

  including information on what we already know about conducting research

  with ROs, gaps in existing research and recommendations for future

  studies.

  CONCLUSIONS: There is enormous untapped potential for RO-based CVD

  prevention research, but considerably more work is required to achieve

  the level of research that is currently conducted in other channels such

  as worksites and schools. Health practitioners/researchers and ROs are

  increasingly seizing the opportunity for partnerships to improve health.

  The knowledge gained from these projects and their documented successes

  will hopefully encourage other components of the public health system

  such as hospitals, managed care organizations and departments of health

  to continue developing ways of including ROs in health research and

  behavior change programming. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.'
affiliation: 'Lasater, TM (Corresponding Author), BROWN UNIV,MEM HOSP RHODE ISL,CTR
  PRIMARY CARE \& PREVENT,111 BREWSTER ST,PAWTUCKET,RI 02860, USA.

  BROWN UNIV,SCH MED,DEPT COMMUNITY HLTH,PROVIDENCE,RI 02912.

  JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV,SCH MED,CTR HLTH PROMOT,BALTIMORE,MD.

  JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV,SCH MED,DIV GEN INTERNAL MED,BALTIMORE,MD.

  JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV,SCH NURSING,BALTIMORE,MD.'
author: Lasater, TM and Becker, DM and Hill, MN and Gans, KM
author_list:
- family: Lasater
  given: TM
- family: Becker
  given: DM
- family: Hill
  given: MN
- family: Gans
  given: KM
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/S1047-2797(97)80007-5
files: []
issn: 1047-2797
journal: ANNALS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
keywords: 'religious organization; church; cardiovascular disease prevention;

  research design'
keywords-plus: 'HEALTH-EDUCATION; CHURCH; COMMUNITY; PROGRAM; HEART; HYPERTENSION;

  INTERVENTION; VOLUNTEERS; PROMOTION; IMPACT'
language: English
month: OCT
note: 'Conference on Community Trials for Cardiopulmonary Health - Directions

  for Public Health Practice, Policy and Research, BETHESDA, MD, SEP

  25-26, 1996'
number: 7, S
number-of-cited-references: '62'
pages: S46-S53
papis_id: 35202869c943f693c9bccfc63c8977d2
ref: Lasater1997synthesisfindings
times-cited: '72'
title: Synthesis of findings and issues from religious-based cardiovascular disease
  prevention trials
type: article
unique-id: WOS:A1997YD39500006
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '4'
volume: '7'
web-of-science-categories: Public, Environmental \& Occupational Health
year: '1997'