A “State of the Church” health survey designed by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health Nutrition Program to assess the health status of San Bernardino church members found 80 percent of those surveyed were overweight/obese compared to the country’s 70 percent rate.
The survey was administered March through October 2017 in 11 small, medium, and large San Bernardino churches enrolled in the Body & Soul program, an initiative aimed at empowering church members to embrace and celebrate good health. A total of 367 adult church members – 75 percent women and 25 percent men completed the survey. The majority of respondents were between 36 to 60 years of age, and 76 percent were African-Americans.
San Bernardino County’s Nutrition Program, funded by the California Department of Public Health’s Nutrition Education Obesity Prevention Branch (NEOPB), has a long-history partnering with area churches which are embedded in the historical, social, and cultural fabric of communities of color. Churches have a profound understanding of the unique needs of the communities they serve, and can be effective venues for providing interventions that help reverse chronic disease trends that plague their members. The survey provides the data that churches need, but often do not have, to plan and implement health interventions that are beneficial to their congregations and surrounding communities.
“The ‘State of the Church’ health survey is the first-ever research focusing on the health and well-being of San Bernardino’s faith-based community,” said Dr. Maxwell Ohikhuare, Health Officer, San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. “We will provide church leaders with the findings specific to their church so they can develop and execute health interventions that are strategically guided by our survey findings. What we see is a need to introduce community-wide interventions that address the chronic diseases present among church members, especially in the low-income areas.”
Eleven churches responded to an invitation to participate which was extended not only to majority African-American churches, but also included other faith groups such as Catholic churches and mosques. Public Health hopes to include more churches to gain a wider understanding of health challenges throughout many different communities in the county. As new churches and faith-based communities participate in upcoming surveys, the demographics of the assessment are expected to change.
The survey did identify a high prevalence of certain chronic diseases among San Bernardino churches compared to national averages as outlined in the following table.
Chronic Disease National Averages/Prevalence Survey Churches/Prevalence
Obesity and overweight 70% 80%
Hypercholesterolemia 29% 26%
Diabetes 9.4% 24%
Hypertension 33.5% 40%
“The high prevalence of chronic diseases can be linked to nutrition-related behaviors among the population surveyed,” said Yen Ang, Nutrition Program’s Supervising Nutritionist. “Very few of the respondents meet the recommendations for the daily consumption of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. One of the most disappointing findings is that 32 percent of those completing the survey reported drinking the daily recommended amount of water while almost the same number of people – 32 percent – reported drinking sweetened beverages daily.”
The following table outlines several of the findings related to the eating and drinking habits of the survey respondents.
Lifestyle Behaviors Percentage meeting recommendations
Daily fruit consumption 24.4%
Daily vegetable consumption 27.1%
Daily whole grain consumption 1.5%
Drink water 8 or more cups/day 32%
The study also examined other lifestyle behaviors such as exercise and church attendance. Both behaviors appeared to improve personal perceptions of health, and decreased stress and depression. Of those surveyed 77 percent considered themselves moderately to very religious while 90 percent self-identified as moderately to very spiritual. One’s spiritual and religious beliefs seemed to have an impact on mental well-being as fewer people who considered themselves spiritual and religious reported experiencing stress or depression.
“Despite the negative health outcomes identified in the “State of the Church” health survey, most church goers are upbeat about their health,” said Ang. “Interestingly, 79 percent rated their health as good, very good, or excellent, while only 3 percent rated it as poor. More than a third (38 percent) considered their health to be better now than compared to one year ago.”
According to Teslyn Henry-King, Public Health’s Nutrition Program Coordinator, Public Health, the County is committed to reducing health disparities in faith-based organizations. “Moving forward, we will review with church leaders the survey findings for their individual churches and address any questions or concerns they might have. Secondly, we plan to support our church partners’ needs through the Body & Soul program by developing interventions that address the health issues that exist in their individual churches. Most importantly, we will work with our church partners to begin implementing the planned interventions,” Henry-King said. “We are very encouraged that people are ready to make healthy behavior changes as 78 percent of the survey respondents indicated they intend to make lifestyle changes in the next six months to improve their health, especially through exercise, nutrition, and weight loss.
Henry-King indicated that the County plans to conduct faith-based surveys in subsequent years to measure reductions in health disparities among church members.