Department of Health Management, Ariel University, 4 Kiryat Hamada, 40700, Ariel, Israel.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2018 Dec;5(6):1328-1336. doi: 10.1007/s40615-018-0481-2. Epub 2018 Mar 16.
In general, church attendance can be associated with improved health behaviors and fewer related chronic diseases, suggesting a potential opportunity to counteract worsening health behaviors among some immigrants and thereby reduce health disparities. There is a paucity of research, however, on the relationship between religious involvement and immigrants' health behaviors and whether it varies by host or home country context.
To examine the relationship between religious involvement, measured by church attendance, with health behaviors among Latino immigrants in the United States (U.S.) and to compare the relationship of home and host country attendance with these behaviors.
Data from the randomized New Immigrant Survey, including over 1200 immigrants to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America, were analyzed. Health measures included smoking, binge drinking, physical activity, and obesity. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed using measures of church attendance and ethnic/immigrant characteristics as well as other demographic and health care factors. Separate models were constructed for each behavior.
An association was found between U.S. church attendance and less smoking, less drinking, and greater physical activity but not with obesity. Threshold effects were found. However, almost no associations were found between health behaviors and home country church attendance.
The context in which people live warrants increased attention for successful health promotion initiatives for immigrant populations. The social, psychological, and religious resources in immigrant communities can be leveraged to potentially counteract worsening of chronic disease-related health behaviors of Latino immigrants in the U.S., thereby reducing health disparities.
一般来说，参加教堂活动与改善健康行为和减少相关慢性病有关，这表明有可能扭转一些移民健康行为恶化的趋势，从而减少健康差距。然而，关于宗教参与与移民健康行为之间的关系以及这种关系是否因宿主国或原籍国背景而异的研究很少。
研究美国（美国）的宗教参与（通过参加教堂活动来衡量）与拉丁裔移民健康行为之间的关系，并比较原籍国和宿主国参加教堂活动与这些行为的关系。
分析了来自随机新移民调查的数据，其中包括来自墨西哥和中美洲的 1200 多名移民。健康措施包括吸烟、狂饮、体育活动和肥胖。使用教堂出席和族裔/移民特征以及其他人口统计和医疗保健因素的测量值进行描述性和多变量逻辑回归分析。为每种行为分别构建模型。
发现美国教堂出勤率与吸烟、饮酒量减少和体育活动增加有关，但与肥胖无关。发现了阈值效应。然而，在家国教堂出勤率与健康行为之间几乎没有关联。
人们生活的环境需要更加关注移民人口的成功健康促进计划。可以利用移民社区的社会、心理和宗教资源，潜在地扭转美国拉丁裔移民与慢性病相关的健康行为恶化的趋势，从而减少健康差距。
