Date of Conferral

5-9-2024

Date of Award

May 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Health Education and Promotion

Advisor

Judia Malachi

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that when public health agencies (PHAs) partnered with African American (AA) pastors to deliver and promote health education to their church members, improved health behaviors in the AA community were realized. Recent studies have also shown that collaborations of this nature have yielded increases in health screenings and improvements in disease management, preventative care, and public health outreach. Because most of the previous studies focused on the perceptions of pastors who oversaw churches in urban areas, a need for research focusing on the perceptions of rural pastors was warranted. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to explore the perceptions of AA pastors who presided over churches in rural areas regarding their thoughts on collaborating with PHAs to deliver and promote health education to their congregates. Using the theory of planned behavior, the research questions were answered by assessing the study participants’ views regarding their (a) attitudes towards collaborations with PHAs, (b) subjective norms towards collaborations with PHAs, and (c) perceived levels of control during collaborations with PHAs. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with eight AA pastors of rural churches. The interviews were analyzed using inductive coding. The results of this study suggested that urban and rural pastors held favorable views of collaborating with PHAs and welcomed partnerships; however, they required a level of pastoral control of messaging. The results of this study could provide PHAs with insight into forming productive partnerships with rural AA pastors to promote healthy behaviors in their communities and thus decrease health disparities.

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