A comparison of a spiritually based and non-spiritually based educational intervention for informed decision making for prostate cancer screening among church-attending African-American men.

INTRODUCTION

Health communication interventions have been modestly effective for increasing informed decision making for prostate cancer screening among African-American men; however, knowledge and informed decision making is still questionable even with screening. Church-based programs may be more effective if they are spiritually based in nature.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of the present study were to implement and provide an initial evaluation of a spiritually based prostate cancer screening informed decision making intervention for African-American men who attend church, and determine its efficacy for increasing informed decision making.

DESIGN AND METHOD: Churches were randomized to receive either the spiritually based or the non-spiritual intervention. Trained community health advisors, who were African-American male church members, led an educational session and distributed educational print materials. Participants completed baseline and immediate follow-up surveys to assess the intervention impact on study outcomes.

RESULTS

The spiritually based intervention appeared to be more effective in areas such as knowledge, and men read more of their materials in the spiritually based group than in the non-spiritual group.

CONCLUSIONS

Further examination of the efficacy of the spiritually based approach to health communication is warranted.