Sustainability and Adaptability of a Community Health Advisor-Led Educational Program in Faith-Based Organizations in Underserved Communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption in all activities, especially those related to group gatherings. During the lockdown period, faith-based organizations, which are resources for both religious and health promotion activities, had to develop alternative strategies to meet those goals. The purpose of this paper is to describe the sustainability of M.I.C.A.H. Project HEAL, a partnership between an academic medical center and faith-based organizations in underserved communities in New York City, during the initial pandemic lockdown period. The use of virtual platforms facilitated Community Health Advisors (CHAs) in 13 organizations to conduct 47 health education workshops, reaching over 800 participants. Reliance on virtual platforms continued after in person gatherings were permitted. These data further support the benefits of academic partnerships with faith-based organizations to provide timely health information during a public health crisis.

A Resilience Program for Hospital Security Officers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using a Community Engagement Model.

Security officers in health systems are subject to high levels of stress and current support interventions do not necessarily target their needs. To address this gap, a resilience center at a major urban tertiary care hospital utilized community engagement principles to adapt and implement resilience and mental health awareness workshops, which were informed by initial piloting. The program consisted of twelve short briefings in which officers were provided psychoeducation on psychological first aid and adaptive coping. The program reached 107 security officers (89.5% men, 95.2% people of color); both qualitative and quantitative feedback indicated a generally positive reception. Further efforts to support security officers are warranted given their high exposure to patient crises and under-acknowledgement as frontline workers in healthcare.

Supporting Faith-Based Communities Through and Beyond the Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought widespread and notable effects to the physical and mental health of communities across New York City with disproportionate suffering Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino communities alongside additional stressors such as racism and economic hardship. This report describes the adaptation of a previously successful evidence-based community engagement health education program for the deployment of resilience promoting workshop program in faith-based organizations in BIPOC communities in New York City. From June 2021 to June 2022, nine faith-based organizations implemented 58 workshops to 1,101 non-unique workshop participants. Most of the workshops were delivered online with more women (N = 803) than men (N = 298) participating. All organizations completed the full curriculum; the workshop focused on self-care and physical fitness was repeated most frequently (N = 13). Participants in the workshops ranged from 4 to 73 per meeting and were largely female. The Building Community Resilience Project is an easy and effective way to modify an existing, evidence-based community health education program to address new and relevant health needs such as resilience and stress amidst the COVID-19 pandemic among faith communities serving BIPOC populations. More research is needed regarding the impact of the workshops as well as adaptability for other faith traditions.

M.I.C.A.H. Project HEAL: Sustainability of a Faith-Based Community Health Advisor Training Program in Urban Underserved Communities in the USA.

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) can play an important role in improving health outcomes. Lay community health advisors (CHAs) are integral to these efforts. This paper assesses the sustainability of a CHA training program for congregants in African-American and Latino FBOs and subsequent implementation of educational workshops. The program is unique in that a health care chaplain in an academic medical center was central to the program's development and implementation. Forty-eight CHAs in 11 FBOs were trained to teach workshops on cardiovascular health, mental health, diabetes, and smoking cessation. Two thousand four hundred and forty-four participants attended 70 workshops. This program has the potential to be a model to educate individuals and to address health inequities in underserved communities. Health care chaplains in other medical centers may use this as a model for enhancing community engagement and education.

Developments in the first year of a resilience-focused program for health care workers.

The present article comprises a one-year retrospective review of the efforts of the Mount Sinai Center for Stress, Resilience and Personal Growth, an initiative to support the resilience and well-being of health care workers that was founded amid the first peak of the pandemic in New York in 2020. Specific offerings to date have included evidence-backed resilience workshops, a digital health platform, and a specialty screening and treatment service. All services have been modified or expanded in response to changing needs and are subject to ongoing research. Robust evidence-based programming that addressing health care worker well-being, regardless of role, may prove beneficial to institutions well beyond the pandemic.

Using the Taxonomy: A Standard Vocabulary of Chaplain Activities.

At present, the field of chaplaincy does not have a standardized vocabulary for the activities that chaplains conduct in different institutions and settings. This is a hindrance when making comparisons among various chaplain activities across institutions and drawing conclusions from the data reported. Recently a standardized vocabulary, the Advocate Taxonomy, was developed by a group of chaplains and there was consensus agreement that the taxonomy represented the gamut of chaplain activities. However, to date, no data with adults has been presented to support the conclusions reached by the taxonomy development team. This article is the first effort to examine which taxonomy items are most commonly used in the acute care setting. It further explores the differences in the use of the taxonomy items in different settings (ICU vs. Non-ICU), the type of chaplain visit (Initial vs. Follow-up) and the patient's discharge status (Expired vs. discharged alive).

Adapting Health through Early Awareness and Learning Program into a New Faith-Based Organization Context.

BACKGROUND: Black churches serve as a trusted source of health information. Church congregants who are community health advisors (CHAs) can play a significant role in underserved communities. OBJECTIVES: To describe 1) a community engagement program between an academic medical center and faith-based organizations (FBOs) in which a health care chaplain plays a central role, and 2) an adaptation of the original Health through Early Awareness and Learning (HEAL) educational program that trains CHAs in FBOs in other underserved communities. METHODS: In collaboration with eight FBOs, the content of a 2-day educational training program to train CHAs was developed. The program covered a broad range of health topics in the context of men's health and women's health. Scripture was included in the training materials to help the CHAs make a connection between health positive scriptural encouragement and overall health. Practicums were used to evaluate CHA readiness to conduct workshops. Participants were provided with resources to access more information as well as questions that they can ask their health care providers. RESULTS: Twenty-six CHAs successfully completely the training program and demonstrated readiness to conduct workshops. CONCLUSIONS: Through close partnerships with churches in underserved communities, it was possible to successfully adapt a CHA health education training program.