Engaging the Faith Community in Designing a Church-Based Mental Health Screening and Linkage to Care Intervention

Abstract

African Americans are disproportionately burdened by mental health issues (e.g., stress, chronic depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder). Upon review of mental health local/state/national data, a highly-engaged faith-based Community Action Board (CAB) raised concerns about the mental health needs of African Americans and addressed mental health as a priority health area in African American Kansas City churches. African Americans tend to experience barriers to mental health services (e.g., limited access, high cost, mental health-related stigma, non-culturally tailored mental health care). African American churches have many strengths that could increase reach, acceptability feasibility, and impact of mental health interventions tailored for African Americans. The CAB conducted a health needs assessment survey (N=463; 11 churches) to identify health concerns and potential strategies to inform the design of a church-based mental health intervention. Using a faith-community-engaged approach, the CAB developed the survey and used its findings to design a religiously-tailored, multilevel mental health intervention focused on prevention, screening, and linkage to care. The needs assessment identified intervention strategies (e.g., church-based screening, stress reduction/exercise programs, pastors promoting mental health) that were: (1) rated as highly important/feasible to implement, (2) included in the intervention design, and (3) successfully implemented in African American churches by faith leaders and university students and faculty.