Seniors' mental health and pastoral practices in African American churches: An exploratory study in a southern city

Some evidence suggests that religiosity contributes to the subjective healt h of senior citizens especially in the African American population. When fa cing potentially stressful problems, many African American seniors turn to the church and clergy for help. Consequently, we explore how their clergy r espond to seniors' psychological problems, whether they seek advice from pr ofessionals, and what they typically do in dealing with a distressed senior . Data from a representative sample of pastors of African American congrega tions indicate that one-half of the clergy referred distressed seniors to m ental health professionals, while among the remaining pastors about 25% pro vided counseling and prayers and another 25% felt that problems were not se rious enough to require either counseling or professional referral. A discu ssion of these findings is provided.