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FFaith, AActivity, & NNutritionFaith Based Quarterly Meeting
February 23, 2015
Sara Wilcox, PhD & Kimberly Arnold, MPHUniversity of South Carolina
Prevention Research Center
Overview Brief description of the Faith,
Activity & Nutrition (FAN) Program What is it? How will churches benefit? What are churches asked to do / what
are the next steps? Progress since the November
meeting Brainstorming: getting more
churches on board
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New Opportunity for Fairfield County Churches Grant from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention Awarded to the University of South Carolina
(Columbia) Partners:
Clemson University Fairfield Behavioral Health Services Fairfield Community Coordinating Council Fairfield County Churches [Next phase: United Methodist and Baptist Convention]
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What is the Faith, Activity, and Nutrition (FAN) Program? Helps churches to create a “healthy church environment” Helps churches increase
opportunities; set guidelines / practices; enlist Pastor & leader support; get messages out through the church
Focuses on physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) PA goal: 150 mins/wk
of moderate-intensity PA
HE goals: fruits, vegetables, whole grains; fat & sodium
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Why is FAN Important? Fairfield County has higher
mortality rates than the state, for example: Heart disease mortality: 248.3
vs 185.7 (per 100,00) Stroke mortality: 61.7 vs 49.8
(per 100,000)
Health disparities exist by: Race/ethnicity Level of income Rural residence
5Sources: http://www.scdhec.gov/Health/Docs/CHIT/Fairfield.pdf; http://www.scdhec.gov/Library/CR-004470.pdf
Fairfield County fares worse than the state on chronic disease & health behaviors: Obesity: 41.0% vs 32.4% Diabetes: 19.7% vs 10.4% Any PA in last 30 days:
55.6% vs. 73.0%
All of these conditions are affected by PA and HE!
How will FAN Benefit Churches? FAN offers a free
workshop, materials and support to help churches create a healthy church environment
FAN can help church members reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases & better manage existing disease
Healthy church members are more likely to be productive, engaged, and giving church members
Meeting physical needs of members is consistent with Bible teachings
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How Does FAN Work?
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Fairfield County Churches interested in participating
Random assignment
Immediate Training (40) Delayed Training (20)
Telephone interviews: Pastors & Coordinators
USC visits (church & neighborhood; member surveys)
Training
Telephone interviews: Pastors & Coordinators
Telephone interviews: Pastors & Coordinators
0 mosOct 2015
-1 mo
9-12 mos
12 mos
12 mosOct 2016
24 mos
What Are All Churches Asked To Do - VERY SOON?
1. Make a commitment to be a part of this program & study
2. Understand that your church may be selected (at random) to be trained in October 2015 or October 2016
3. Identify a church member to be the FAN Coordinator: Knows the church
culture & operations well
Active member
Has good relations with church leaders
Is passionate about health
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What Are All Churches Asked To Do – FAIRLY SOON? Take part in a telephone
screening Churches of any size can
take part in the training, but to be enrolled in the study & receive stipend: > 20 active members room for improvement in
the area of physical activity and healthy eating
Agree to send a committee to a one-day training workshop
Agree to have FAN-identified leaders take part in a brief telephone survey 3 times over 2 years
Agree to have FAN-identified leaders take part in brief monthly telephone calls
Agree to “random assignment” of when you will be trained
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What Are All Churches Asked To Do Who ENROLL in FAN? Take part in a 20-
minute telephone survey before learning when you will be trained & again 12 months and 24 months later Pastor FAN Coordinator Small incentive
Help coordinate a visit to your church by USC staff (about 9-12 months after the telephone survey) Anonymous surveys of
members Observation of church
and neighborhood environment
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What Are Churches Asked To Do When it is Their Turn For TRAINING? Attend a full-day training workshop (10/2015 or
10/2016) 3-5 members of your church
Pastor, FAN Coordinator, person responsible for cooking or catering decisions
Others passionate about health, physical activity, and/or healthy eating
Take part in monthly telephone calls for 12 months Designed to help churches put FAN into place and
overcome challenges Rotation: Pastor, FAN Coordinator, Lead of Kitchen Staff
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What Have We Done Since November? Developed complete listing of Fairfield County
churches with contact information Worked on revising / creating all training materials
for this new project Worked on developing our program evaluation
measures Evaluation of FAN and not evaluation of
churches! E.g., “What are some factors that it make it
more or less likely that FAN will be put into place in a given church?”
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Brainstorming: We Need YOUR Help! We need to reach
70 Fairfield County churches to take part in FAN!
How do we reach churches that aren’t here tonight?
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We Are Also Looking For…. Up to 2 lay members passionate about health to
be trained as Community Health Advisors:
Train other churches and to provide technical assistance - 2 yr commitment
Small stipend provided Some health background ideal, but
not required
Please contact Ms. Cheryl Goodwin at 803-635-2335 ext. 20 or [email protected] if you are interested in learning more
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