Prevalence of chronic disease, mental health problems, and risk behaviors in San Bernardino (SB) County reflect some of the worst health outcomes in the State of California and the United States. Using the Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change (ITHBC) as the theoretical framework, this community-based participatory research (CBPR) study aimed to determine how religious self-regulation skills and ability, and religious behaviors, jointly affect health promotion behaviors among socio-economically challenged residents of southwest SB County, California. A convenience sample of adult residents (N = 261) completed a series of inventories to measure the relationship between modified ITHBC constructs of religious self-regulation skills, religious self-management behaviors, and health outcomes. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted to validate the strong positive effect of religious self-regulation skills and ability on how frequently individuals engage in both organized and non-organized religious activities. Results also indicated a significant positive impact of religious behaviors towards healthy eating behaviors. However, without the engagement in religious activities, high religious self-regulation skills and ability inhibited the likelihood of healthy food intake. This faith-related theoretical model provides an avenue for faith-based organizations’ capacity for contributing to community health promotion.

From Nightingale forward, nursing has understood that interaction of person, nurse, and environment facilitates optimal outcomes. Yet, there remains a need for research on the paradigm concept of environment and creation of a healing environment. This classical, grounded theory study aimed to identify (1) strategies Christian nurses used to create a healing environment and enhance well-being, (2) outcomes they perceived resulting from these strategies, and (3) factors they regarded as either enhancing or inhibiting the creation of the healing environments. A criterion-based, purposive sample of Christian nurses (N = 15) was interviewed between June 2013 and January 2014 until data saturation was reached. Data were analyzed using constant comparative methods in consultation with a grounded theory expert. “Charting the healing path,” the core category, consists of four phases: helping patients get better, fostering the healing environment, charting a healing path, and observing outcomes. The “charting the healing path” model informs development of the environment domain of nursing knowledge. Knowing the patient, the juncture of nurse and patient points of view, and the resultant nurse–patient partnership promote best potential outcomes to be realized incrementally during, and after, hospitalization.

The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed-method approach using quantitative methods followed by qualitative inquiry was to assess a Southern California community’s perception of its health and of barriers to improving health. The qualitative aspects of this mixed-method CBPR project by a church-university-community partnership further describe member perceptions of their community and contributors/barriers to community health. Four focus group interviews were conducted over eight months at two elementary schools with the mothers of school children (N = 21) in the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 school years, including one Spanish-only group. Four themes emerged, describing the contributors and barriers to community health and well-being: lack of connection, poor communication, fear/anxiety, and lack of access to affordable healthcare. The findings highlight how small anchor institutions, those whose primary mission is not health (church, school, trailer park, local businesses, etc.), can be facilitators of health and address these disruptions of connectivity, communication, and care present within the healthcare system itself, and its disappointed community recipients of “care”. The church as a community of care, in collaboration with educational institutions, is suited to invite community participation, affirm humanness, build trust, and offer increased access to care in the neighborhoods surrounding its location.