Spirituality/Medicine Interface Project

What Do We Know about the Effectiveness of Faith-based Health Programs?

Authors: Kevin J. Flannelly, PhD, Andrew J. Weaver, MTh, PhD, Helen P. Tannenbaum, MBA, MLIS

Abstract

“Some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's touch or a pastor's prayer,” said President George W. Bush in his first inaugural address in January 2001.1 “Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in our laws.”1 With these words President Bush introduced Americans to his plan to provide federal funding to faith-based organizations; later that month, the President signed an Executive Order creating the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.2

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References

1.President George W. Bush's Inaugural Address, January 20, 2001. Available at:www.whitehouse.gov/news/print/inaugural-address.html. Accessed.
 
2.Johnson BR. Objective hope: Assessing the effectiveness of faith-based organizations: A review of the literature. Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 2002.
 
3.Modesto K, Weaver AJ, Flannelly KJ. Motive and method: A systematic review of empirical research on religion in six social work journals. Social Work and Christianity (in press).
 
4.Flannelly KJ, Stern S, Costa KG, et al. Rabbis and health: A half-century review of the mental and physical health care literature. Pastoral Psychology (in press).
 
5.Gee L, Smucker D, Chin MH, et al. Partnering together? Relationships between faith-based community health centers and neighborhood congregations. South Med J 2005;98:13–18.
 
6.State of the Union: The President's Address, The New York Times February 3 2005, A22