The crisis of maintaining the health of the nation's underserved, underinsured, and uninsured continues unabated, and increasingly requires innovative problem solving approaches. One promising approach that has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, is the establishment of community-based collaborative health-related partnerships between churches or other faith-based organizations, and hospitals or other health-care providers. However, often overlooked in discussions of faith-health partnerships is the question of the role they can play in maintaining the health of vulnerable and at-risk populations longitudinally. A comprehensive systematic review and analysis of the biomedical, nursing, community and public health, and ministerial literatures was conducted to identify existing faith and health partnerships in the United States. Identified programs were organized into a typology based on type of health program and degree of collaboration. The typology yielded nine distinct program classifications which were compared on program size, community size, nature of collaboration, health outcomes examined, program longevity, number of partners, collaborating organizations, target population, budget, and other available information. If faith and health partnerships can help to address the existing and expected health-related needs of vulnerable populations, more thorough information about their possible contribution is needed in order to make informed policy decisions. The results of this study provide information to health policy researchers, and decisionmakers in government, public health, medicine and nursing, and faith organizations about innovative and successful faith-health programs. The study's results identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing partnerships, their common features, and how they can best be sustained and supported.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Access to Care, Community-Based Partnership
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.