Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

School

Public Health

Advisor

Chinaro Kennedy

Abstract

Getting African Americans to adhere to medical management strategies to reduce negative health outcomes of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD risk factors may be challenging. The purpose of this cross-sectional quantitative study was to examine whether levels of faith in God's healing, when it comes to taking medications, was associated with medication adherence to hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMII) medications, and whether those factors were associated with prevalence of CVD and uncontrolled symptoms of CVD risk factors, namely hypertension and DMII. Social cognitive theory provided the framework for the study. Data were collected from surveys completed by 102 African American church members with hypertension and/or DMII who were 18 years and older and were taking at least one medication. Chi-square results indicated a significant relationship between levels of faith in healing and hypertension medication adherence; the relationship was not significant for DMII adherence. Results of multivariable binary logistic regression indicated no significant relationships between levels of faith in healing/medication adherence and CVD prevalence and uncontrolled symptoms of hypertension and/or DMII. Findings may be used to help African American Christian church community members, who are not being reached by the effective educational programs, identify faith-based adherence issues.

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