Physical activity interventions conducted in the
church setting are few, with the majority involving
African—American samples.5,6 Yanek et al.5 showed
a 20-week holistic intervention program was more
effective than a self-help control group in improving
dietary and physical activity behaviours of
church-going African—Americans 1 year after completing
the program. In the ‘Healthy Body/Healthy
Spirit’ project, 16 Atlanta churches6,7 were randomised
to either a comparison, self-help or selfhelp
plus telephone counselling intervention, the
latter based on a combination of psychotherapy
and behavioural change theories. Both intervention
groups showed significant increases in physical
activity at 1-year follow-up. However, the generalisability
of these findings to populations other than
African—Americans is currently unknown.
In Australia, one 12-week church-based physical
activity intervention was conducted among
Greek—Australian migrant women.8 Intervention
participants (n = 26) were recruited through the
Greek-orthodox church, and the program was run
in the church building to make use of existing support
groups. However, the comparison group (n = 22)
was recruited from a different location and were
not church-going. Small improvements in exercise
heart rate were demonstrated within the intervention
group, but effects on habitual physical activity
levels were not reported. The program was also not
holistic, in that it did not incorporate a spiritual or
mental health component, which is often a key element
of the church-based setting.