Acceptability of Friday Sermons as a Modality for Health Promotion and Education. J Immigr Minor Health 2018 Oct;20(5):1075-1084
Date
08/22/2017Pubmed ID
28825198DOI
10.1007/s10903-017-0647-8Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85027675632 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 16 CitationsAbstract
Our objective was to assess the acceptability and feasibility of using sermons for health promotion in American Muslim mosque communities by deploying a tailored sermon in two mosque communities. With input from a community advisory board and resident imams, sermons communicated four health-related themes: (i) good health is a grant from Allah, (ii) one's body is trust and must be cared for, (iii) trusting in God's plan does not preclude taking actions to care for oneself, and (iv) community members are caretakers of one another. Self-administered, post-sermon questionnaires asked attendees about the acceptability of the sermon and the sermon-giver, and to identify survey themes. Data analyses involved descriptive statistics and regression modeling to assess variance in acceptability across race/ethnicity and gender. Of the 235 respondents, the majority found the sermon content acceptable and desired to hear health-based sermons more often (72 and 67% respectively). There were no significant differences in acceptability of sermon or sermon-giver by gender or race/ethnicity. Our study demonstrates that theologically-framed health messaging is acceptable within sermons in American Muslim mosque communities. This study underscores the potential utility of mosque sermons for health education programs and for health behavior interventions in American mosques.
Author List
Padela AI, Malik S, Ahmed NAuthor
Aasim Padela MD Vice Chair, Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Community-Based Participatory Research
Decision Making
Female
Health Education
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Promotion
Health Status
Humans
Islam
Male
Middle Aged
Trust
Young Adult
