THE CHARACTERISTICS OF NORTHERN BLACK CHURCHES WITH COMMUNITY-HEALTH OUTREACH PROGRAMS

Objectives. The Black church has a long history of addressing unmet he alth and human service needs, yet few studies have examined characteri stics of churches involved in health promotion. Methods. Data obtained from a survey of 635 Black churches in the northern United States wer e examined. Univariate and multivariate statistical procedures identif ied eight characteristics associated with community health outreach pr ograms: congregation size, denomination, church age, economic class of membership, ownership of church, number of paid clergy, presence of o ther paid staff and education level of the minister. Results. A logist ic regression model identified church size and educational level of th e minister as the strongest predictors of church-sponsored community h ealth outreach. The model correctly classified 88% of churches that co nduct outreach programs. Overall, the model correctly classified 76% o f churches in the sample. Conclusions. Results may be used by public h ealth professionals and policy makers to enlist Black churches as an i ntegral component for delivery of health promotion and disease prevent ion services needed to achieve the Year 2000 health objectives for all Americans.