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Maintaining healthy behaviors is challenging. Based upon previous reports that in North Carolina (NC), USA, overweight/obese clergy lost weight during a two-year religiously tailored health intervention, we described trajectories of diet, physical activity, and sleep. We investigated whether behavior changes were associated with weight and use of health-promoting theological messages. Improvements were observed in sleep, calorie-dense food intake, and physical activity, with the latter two associated with weight loss. While theological messages were well-retained, their relationship with behaviors depended on the specific message, behavior, and timing. Findings offer insights into weight loss mechanisms, including the role of theological messages in religiously tailored health interventions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Chronic stress undermines psychological and physiological health. We tested three remotely delivered stress management interventions among clergy, accounting for intervention preferences. United Methodist clergy in North Carolina enrolled in a partially randomized, preference-based waitlist control trial. The interventions were: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), Daily Examen prayer practice, and Stress Proofing (stress inoculation plus breathing skills). Co-primary outcomes were symptoms of stress (Calgary Symptoms of Stress Inventory) and 48-hour ambulatory heart rate variability (HRV) at 12 weeks compared to waitlist control. Survey data were collected at 0, 12, and 24 weeks and 48-hour ambulatory HRV at 0 and 12 weeks. The 255 participants were 91% White and 48% female. Forty-nine participants (22%) without a preference were randomly assigned between the three interventions (n = 40) and waitlist control (n = 9). Two hundred six participants (78%) with a preference were randomly assigned to waitlist control (n = 62) or their preferred intervention (n = 144). Compared to waitlist control, MBSR [mean difference (MD) = -0.30, 95% CI: -0.41, -0.20; P < .001] and Stress Proofing (MD = -0.27, 95% CI: -0.40, -0.14; P < .001) participants had lower stress symptoms at 12 weeks; Daily Examen participants did not until 24 weeks (MD = -0.24, 95% CI: -0.41, -0.08). MBSR participants demonstrated improvement in HRV at 12 weeks (MD = +3.32 ms; 95% CI: 0.21, 6.44; P = .036). MBSR demonstrated robust improvement in self-reported and objective physical correlates of stress; Stress Proofing and Daily Examen resulted in improvements in self-reported correlates of stress. These brief practices were sustainable and beneficial for United Methodist clergy during the heightened stressors of the COVID pandemic. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04625777., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.)

The job-demand-control-support model indicates that clergy are at high risk for chronic stress and adverse health outcomes. A multi-group pre-test-post-test design was used to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and range of outcome effect sizes for four potentially stress-reducing interventions: stress inoculation training, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), the Daily Examen, and Centering Prayer. All United Methodist clergy in North Carolina were eligible and recruited via email to attend their preferred intervention. Surveys at 0, 3, and 12 weeks assessed symptoms of stress, anxiety, and perceived stress reactivity. Heart rate variability (HRV) was assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using 24 h ambulatory heart rate monitoring data. A subset of participants completed in-depth interviews and reported skill practice using daily text messages. Standardized mean differences with 95% and 75% confidence intervals were calculated for the change observed in each intervention from baseline to 3 and 12 weeks post-baseline to determine the range of effect sizes likely to be observed in a definitive trial. 71 clergy participated in an intervention. The daily percentage of participants engaging in stress management practices ranged from 47% (MBSR) to 69% (Examen). Results suggest that participation in Daily Examen, stress inoculation, or MBSR interventions could plausibly result in improvement in stress and anxiety at 12 weeks with small-to-large effect sizes. Small effect sizes on change in HRV were plausible for MBSR and Centering Prayer from baseline to 12 weeks. All four interventions were feasible and acceptable, although Centering Prayer had lower enrollment and mixed results., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Clergy are tasked with multiple interpersonal administrative, organizational, and religious responsibilities, such as preaching, teaching, counseling, administering sacraments, developing lay leader skills, and providing leadership and vision for the congregation and community. The high expectations and demands placed on them put them at an increased risk for mental distress such as depression and anxiety. Little is known about whether and how clergy, helpers themselves, receive care when they experience mental distress. All active United Methodist Church (UMC) clergy in North Carolina were recruited to take a survey in 2019 comprising validated depression and anxiety screeners and questions about mental health service utilization. Bivariate and Poisson regression analyses were conducted on the subset of participants with elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms to determine the extent of mental health service use during four different timeframes and the relationship between service use and sociodemographic variables. A total of 1,489 clergy participated. Of the 222 (15%) who had elevated anxiety or depressive symptoms or both, 49.1% had not ever or recently (in the past two years) seen a mental health professional. Participants were more likely to report using services currently or recently (in the past two years) if they were younger, had depression before age 21, or "very often" felt loved and cared for by their congregation. The rate of mental health service use among UMC clergy is comparable to the national average of service use by US adults with mental distress. However, it is concerning that 49% of clergy with elevated symptoms were not engaged in care. This study points to clergy subgroups to target for an increase in mental health service use. Strategies to support clergy and minimize mental health stigma are needed., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) provide vital services during disease outbreaks. Appropriate burials of those who died from an infectious disease outbreak is a critical CHW function to prevent infection and disease spread. During the 2018 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Beni Town, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, we sought to understand the levels of understanding, trust, and cooperation of the community in response to the outbreak, the barriers burial workers faced in their health work and its impact on local burial workers and other CHWs., Methods: 12 EVD burial CHWs in Beni Town completed an hour-long qualitative in-depth interview on their experiences. They were recruited from a local counseling center. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and translated into English. A team of 3 researchers identified structural and emergent themes using applied thematic analysis., Results: Workers reported major misconceptions in the community surrounding the initiation of the outbreak. Community misconceptions were based on widespread governmental mistrust as well as a belief system that intertwines traditional and scientific understandings of the world. EVD burial workers identified violence directed at them and community misinformation as the two largest barriers to effectively carrying out their work. They named several important support systems including family and friends, personal relaxation techniques, and a local counseling center., Conclusions: As with other disease outbreaks globally, we found that government mistrust and religious beliefs strongly impacted community perceptions of the EVD outbreak. Previous studies have demonstrated clinic-based medical personnel are often the targets of violence. Our research shows that burial workers were also targeted and exposed to extreme levels of violence in their work. Along with their ability to effectively respond to the outbreak, violence has a negative impact on their own mental wellbeing. Burial workers found group counseling sessions to be an effective tool for managing the stress associated with their work. Further developing and testing of group-based interventions for this group is a priority for future research., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

As an occupational group, clergy exhibit numerous physical health problems. Given the physical health problems faced by clergy, understanding where physical health falls within the priorities of seminary students, the ways students conceptualize physical health, and how seminary students do or do not attend to their physical health in the years immediately prior to becoming clergy, can inform intervention development for both seminary students and clergy. Moreover, understanding and shaping the health practices of aspiring clergy may be particularly impactful, with cascading effects, as clergy serve as important role models for their congregants. Drawing on 36 in-depth, qualitative interviews with first-year seminary students, this study examines the complex dynamics between religious frameworks related to physical health, explicit intentions to maintain healthy practices, and reported physical health behaviors. Our findings suggest that even students who deploy religious frameworks in relation to their physical health-and who, as a result, possess positive intentions to implement and maintain healthy behaviors-often report being unable to live up to their aspirations, especially in the face of barriers to health practices posed by the seminary program itself. After reviewing these findings, we offer suggestions for physical health focused interventions, including action and coping planning, which could be implemented at seminaries to reduce the intention-behavior gap and improve clergy health., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objectives: Work in occupations with higher levels of occupational stress can bring mental health costs. Many older adults worldwide are continuing to work past traditional retirement age, raising the question whether older adults experience depression, anxiety, or burnout at the same or greater levels as younger workers, and whether there are differences by age in these levels over time., Design/setting/participants: Longitudinal survey of 1161 currently employed US clergy followed every 6-12 months for up to 66 months., Measurements: Depression was measured with the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8). Anxiety was measured using the anxiety component of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Burnout symptoms were assessed using the three components of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and sense of personal accomplishment (PA)., Results: Older participants had lower scores of depression, anxiety, EE, and DP and higher levels of PA over time compared to younger adults. Levels of EE decreased for older working adults, while not significantly changing over time for those younger. DP symptoms decreased over time among those 55 years or older but increased among those 25-54 years., Conclusions: Older working adults may have higher levels of resilience and be able to balance personal life with their occupation as well as may engage in certain behaviors that increase social support and, for clergy, spiritual well-being that may decrease stress in a way that allows these older adults to appear to tolerate working longer without poorer mental health outcomes.

Background: COVID-19 and its associated restrictions around in-person gatherings have created unprecedented challenges for religious congregations and those who lead them. While several surveys have attempted to describe how pastors and congregations responded to COVID-19, these provide a relatively thin picture of how COVID-19 is impacting religious life. There is scant qualitative data describing the lived reality of religious leaders and communities during the pandemic., Purpose and Methods: This paper provides a more detailed look at how pastors and congregations experienced and responded to COVID-19 and its associated restrictions in the early period of the pandemic. To do so, we draw from 26 in-depth interviews with church-appointed United Methodist pastors conducted between June and August 2020. Pastors were asked to describe how their ministry changed as a result of COVID-19 and interviews were analyzed using applied thematic analysis approaches to identify the most common emergent themes., Results: Pastors reported that COVID-19 fundamentally unsettled routine ways of doing ministry. This disruption generated both challenges and opportunities for clergy and their congregations. In the findings, we describe how clergy responded in key areas of ministry-worship and pastoral care-and analyze how the pandemic is (re)shaping the way that clergy understood their role as pastors and envisioned the future of the Church. We argue for the value of examining the pandemic as an "unsettled" cultural period (Swidler 1986) in which religious leaders found creative ways to (re)do ministry in the context of social distancing. Rather than starting from scratch, we found that pastors drew from and modified existing symbolic and practical tools to fit pandemic-related constraints on religious life. Notably, however, we found that "redoing" ministry was easier and more effective in some areas (worship) than others (pastoral care)., Conclusions and Implications: The impact of COVID-19 on pastors and congregations is complex and not fully captured by survey research. This study provides a baseline for investigating similarities and differences in the responses of pastors within and across denominations and traditions. It also provides a baseline for assessing whether changes in ministry implemented during the early stages of the pandemic remain in place in the post-COVID world., (© Religious Research Association, Inc. 2021.)

Background: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches in the United States were forced to stop meeting in person and move to remote forms of worship and congregational life. This shift likely impacted congregational finances, which are primarily driven by individual donations. Initial research has suggested that there is a great deal of heterogeneity in the financial impact on congregations, but there has been scant research examining how pastors and congregations are managing finances during this period., Purpose: This research examines the impact of COVID-19 and its associated restrictions on congregational finances and the strategies pastors used to adapt their church's finances to the health restrictions., Methods: We conducted in-depth, qualitative interviews with 50 pastors in the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences of the United Methodist Church appointed to 70 congregations. Using applied thematic analysis, we analyzed transcripts at both the pastor and congregation-level to identify similarities and differences in financial impact, financial strategies, and pastor experiences during the pandemic., Results: Most congregations reported small decreases in giving that were offset by federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and other grants from the denomination. Some congregations, mostly urban and fairly large, reported significant increases in giving, while several other, predominantly small congregations, reported their church's finances had been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Even in cases where the net impact of the pandemic was small or non-existent, pastors were forced to adopt a host of new strategies to manage finances. In general, small and large congregations experienced and responded to the financial impact of the pandemic very differently.and Implications., Conclusions: This research suggests that the pandemic's impact on congregational finances were more than just on the bottom line. And while most churches weathered the economic challenges without severe impacts, questions remain as to the long-term impact of the pandemic on church finances., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13644-021-00474-x., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Author(s) under exclusive license to Religious Research Association, Inc. 2021.)

Introduction: Like many helping professionals in emotional labor occupations, clergy experience high rates of mental and physical comorbidities. Regular stress management practices may reduce stress-related symptoms and morbidity, but more research is needed into what practices can be reliably included in busy lifestyles and practiced at a high enough level to meaningfully reduce stress symptoms., Methods and Analysis: The overall design is a preference-based randomized waitlist control trial. United Methodist clergy in North Carolina will be eligible to participate. The intervention and waitlist control groups will be recruited by email. The interventions offered are specifically targeted to clergy preference and include mindfulness-based stress reduction, Daily Examen, and stress inoculation training. Surveys will be conducted at 0, 12, and 24 weeks with heart rate data collected at 0 and 12 weeks. The primary outcomes for this study are self-reported symptoms of stress and heart rate at week 12 for each intervention compared to waitlist control; the secondary outcome is symptoms of anxiety comparing each intervention vs waitlist control., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical approval was obtained from the Duke University Campus IRB (2019-0238). The results will be made available to researchers, funders, and members of the clergy community., Strengths and Limitations of This Study: While evidence-based stress reduction practices such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) exist, a wider variety of practices should be tested to appeal to different individuals. Clergy in particular may prefer, and consequently enact, spiritual practices like the Daily Examen, and individuals such as clergy who spend most of their time thinking and feeling may prefer experiential-based practices like stress inoculation training. If efficacious, the Daily Examen and stress inoculation training practices have high feasibility in that they require few minutes per day. This study is limited by the inclusion of Christian clergy of only one denomination., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04625777 . November 12, 2020., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a widely used, reliable, and ecologically valid method for inducing acute stress under controlled conditions. Traditionally, the TSST is administered with staff physically present with participants, which limits the participant populations that can be exposed to the TSST. We describe an adaptation of the TSST to remote, online delivery over video-conferencing, which we call the internet-delivered Trier Social Stress Test (iTSST). This adaption has participants use wearable, self-administered ECG monitors received and returned via mail. Fifty participants were recruited to take part in a pilot study evaluating stress-reduction interventions and completed the iTSST at two occasions separated by approximately 12 weeks. Perceived stress and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during both administrations of the iTSST. Forty-one participants completed both assessments and were included in the set of analyses. Both administrations were characterized by an increase in self-reported stress and reduction in self-reported relaxation from the resting phase to the speech task, which returned to baseline during recovery. In terms of HRV, we observed a significant parasympathetic response to the iTSST in 90% of participants, evidenced by a decrease in RMSSD and increase in heart rate from resting to the speech task, which recovered during the recovery phase. In terms of repeatability, there was little evidence of habituation and the iTSST elicited a stress response during both the initial administration and the 12-week follow-up. While the utility is limited by the lack of a measure of sympathetic and HPA-axis activity, the iTSST represents a promising research tool when physically interacting with participants is not feasible., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Studies of caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) rarely examine the role religion plays in their lives. We conducted qualitative interviews of 69 caregivers in four countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Cambodia, and India (Hyderabad and Nagaland), and across four religious traditions: Christian (Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant), Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu. We asked respondents to describe the importance of religion for their becoming a caregiver, the way in which religion has helped them make sense of why children are orphans, and how religion helps them face the challenges of their occupation. Using qualitative descriptive analysis, three major themes emerged. Respondents discussed how religion provided a strong motivation for their work, reported that religious institutions were often the way in which they were introduced to caregiving as an occupation, and spoke of the ways religious practices sustain them in their work. They rarely advanced religion as an explanation for why OVC exist-only when pressed did they offer explicitly religious accounts. This study has implications for OVC care, including the importance of engaging religious institutions to support caregivers, the significance of attending to local religious context, and the vital need for research outside of Christian contexts.

Weight-loss maintenance is essential to sustain the health benefits of weight loss. Studies with lower intensity intervention supports under real-world conditions are lacking. This study examined changes in weight and cardiometabolic biomarkers among Spirited Life participants following initial 12-month weight loss at 12-24 months and 24-42 months. A total of 719 clergy received a wellness intervention, including a 10-week online weight-loss program in the first 12 months and monthly health coaching throughout 24 months. Mean changes in weight, blood pressure, high-density lipoproteins, and triglycerides were estimated using random effects linear models, accounting for repeated measures. Weight was additionally analyzed in subsamples stratified by body mass index (BMI). At baseline, 17.1% of participants had BMI < 25 kg/m2 and 11.8% had BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2. Mean 12-month weight loss was -2.4 kg (95% CI: -2.8 kg, -2.1 kg). On average, at 42 months, participants regained weight but did not exceed baseline (-0.5 kg, 95% CI: -1.2 kg, 0.2 kg), improvements in triglycerides were completely sustained (-13.9 mg/dL, 95% CI: -18.6 mg/dL, -9.2 mg/dL), and systolic blood pressure improvements remained significant (-1.9 mmHg, 95% CI: -3.0 mmHg, -0.9 mmHg). Participants with a BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2 lost significantly more weight that was sustained at 42 months (-5.8 kg, 95% CI: -8.9 kg, -2.7 kg). The Spirited Life wellness intervention produced weight loss and, for participants with higher levels of obesity, sustained weight-loss maintenance. The intervention was effective for long-term prevention of weight gain among participants with BMI of 25 to ≤40 kg/m2, through 42 months. Wellness interventions such as Spirited Life should be considered for adoption., (© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2018. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aim: Sophisticated adjustments for socioeconomic status (SES) in health disparities research may help illuminate the independent role of race in health differences between Blacks and Whites. In this study of people who share the same occupation (United Methodist Church clergy) and state of residence (North Carolina), we employed naturalistic and statistical matching to estimate the association between race-above and beyond present SES and other potential confounds-and health disparities., Methods: We compared the health of 1414 White and 93 Black clergy. Then, we used propensity scores to match Black and White participants on key socioeconomic, demographic, occupational, and physical activity characteristics and re-examined differences in health., Results: Prior to propensity score matching, Black clergy reported worse physical health than their White counterparts. They had greater body mass index, higher prevalence of diabetes and hypertension, and lower physical health functioning. White clergy reported less favorable mental health. They had higher severity of depression and anxiety symptoms as well as lower quality of life and mental health functioning. Propensity score analysis revealed that matching on SES and other key variables accounted for most, but not all, of the observed racial differences. Racial disparities in hypertension, depression severity, and mental health functioning persisted despite adjustments., Conclusions: Race contributed to health disparities in some outcomes in our study population, above and beyond our measures of participants' present SES and key demographic, occupational, and physical activity variables. This study provides evidence supporting the position that race contributes to health disparities through pathways other than SES.

Introduction: This study sought to determine the effect of a 2-year, multicomponent health intervention (Spirited Life) targeting metabolic syndrome and stress simultaneously., Design: An RCT using a three-cohort multiple baseline design was conducted in 2010-2014., Setting/participants: Participants were United Methodist clergy in North Carolina, U.S., in 2010, invited based on occupational status. Of invited 1,745 clergy, 1,114 consented, provided baseline data, and were randomly assigned to immediate intervention (n=395), 1-year waitlist (n=283), or 2-year waitlist (n=436) cohorts for a 48-month trial duration., Intervention: The 2-year intervention consisted of personal goal setting and encouragement to engage in monthly health coaching, an online weight loss intervention, a small grant, and three workshops delivering stress management and theological content supporting healthy behaviors. Participants were not blinded to intervention., Main Outcome Measures: Trial outcomes were metabolic syndrome (primary) and self-reported stress and depressive symptoms (secondary). Intervention effects were estimated in 2016 in an intention-to-treat framework using generalized estimating equations with adjustment for baseline level of the outcome and follow-up time points. Log-link Poisson generalized estimating equations with robust SEs was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) for binary outcomes; mean differences were used for continuous/score outcomes., Results: Baseline prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 50.9% and depression was 11.4%. The 12-month intervention effect showed a benefit for metabolic syndrome (PR=0.86, 95% CI=0.79, 0.94, p<0.001). This benefit was sustained at 24 months of intervention (PR=0.88; 95% CI=0.78, 1.00, p=0.04). There was no significant effect on depression or stress scores., Conclusions: The Spirited Life intervention improved metabolic syndrome prevalence in a population of U.S. Christian clergy and sustained improvements during 24 months of intervention. These findings offer support for long-duration behavior change interventions and population-level interventions that allow participants to set their own health goals., Trial Registration: This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT01564719., (Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Metabolic syndrome (Met-S) has a robust concurrent association with depression. A small, methodologically limited literature suggests that Met-S and depression are reciprocally related over time, an association that could contribute to their overlapping influences on morbidity and mortality in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer., Purpose: Using a refined approach to the measurement of Met-S as a continuous latent variable comprising continuous components, this study tested the prospective associations between Met-S and depression., Methods: This study of 1114 clergy included four annual assessments of depressive symptoms and Met-S components. Standard methods were used to measure Met-S risk factors, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 was used to assess depressive symptoms. We used confirmatory factor analysis to verify the structure of Met-S and depression and structural equation modeling to quantify the prospective relationships., Results: The statistical models confirmed the validity of quantifying Met-S as a continuous latent variable, replicated previous evidence of a concurrent association, and indicated a significant prospective association of initial depressive symptoms with subsequent Met-S. Initial Met-S was at most only weakly associated with subsequent depressive symptoms, and the former prospective effect was significantly larger. Associations of depressive symptoms and Met-S were significant for both men and women, but somewhat stronger among men., Conclusions: Results support representation of Met-S as a continuous latent variable. The association of initial depressive symptoms with later Met-S suggests that interventions addressing these correlated risk factors may prove useful in preventive efforts.