Interest in health promotion among Korean American Seventh-day Adventists attending a religious retreat.

BACKGROUND

Little is known about interest in faith-based health promotion programs among Asian American populations. Among the Christian denominations, the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church is known to place a strong doctrinal emphasis on health.

OBJECTIVES

To understand appropriate ways to develop and implement health promotion programs and to conduct research among Korean American SDAs.

METHODS

We collaborated with the North American Division of Korean SDA Churches which sponsors annual week-long religious retreats for their church members. We developed and administered a 10-page questionnaire at their 2009 retreat in order to assess socio-demographic and church characteristics, religiosity, perceived relationship between health and religion, and interest and preferences for church-based health promotion programs.

RESULTS

Overall, 223 participants completed our survey (123 in Korean and 100 in English). The sample consisted of regular churchgoers who were involved in a variety of helping activities, and many holding leadership positions in their home churches. The vast majority was interested in receiving health information at church (80%) in the form of seminars, cooking classes and workshops (50-60%). Fewer respondents were interested in support groups (27%). Some interests and preferences differed between English and Korean language groups.

CONCLUSION

Korean American SDA church retreat participants from a large geographic area are very interested in receiving health information and promoting health at their churches and can potentially serve as "agents of influence" in their respective communities.