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According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a demographic study of the religious landscape in the United States reported that African Americans have the greatest degree of religious belief among all the racial-ethic groups (Pew Research Center 2015). Specifically, 97% of all African Americans reported belief in God, with 83% reporting belief in God with absolute certainty, and 75% of African Americans reported religion was very important in their lives, compared with 53% of people in the general population. While African American families may assist family members faced with psychiatric problems, this data suggests that Black churches are valuable places to implement mental health interventions for their population. Despite high rates of religious attendance and importance, African Americans fail to fully utilize professional mental health services relative to their White counterparts (Hankerson et al. 2011). Factors that contribute to these racial treatment disparities include distrust of providers, limited access to care, financial constraints, high attrition rates, and stigma of mental illness (Hankerson et al., 2015). African Americans who do seek professional treatment are more likely to receive lower-quality care and significantly less likely to receive guideline-concordant care (Gonzalez et al., 2010). Given the enormous individual and societal cost associated with mental disorders (Murray and Lopez 1997), exploring the role of African American faith-based organizations is an essential component of Black mental health.
