Cardiovascular Diseases
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of the adapted Strong Hearts (SH) intervention to improve weight status, American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (AHA Essential 8), and health behaviors among Black/African American and/or Hispanic/Latinx urban residents with overweight or obesity.
Detailed description
Cultural adaptation of effective health behavior interventions holds the potential to improve health behaviors and ultimately health outcomes among underserved populations. The Strong Hearts (SH) Urban Intervention will adapt the existing SH curriculum for delivery in urban Dallas communities to improve weight status and Life's Essential 8 score for ideal cardiovascular health. Despite declines in heart disease mortality in the United States since 2000, it remains the leading cause of mortality in both men and women-accounting for about one-third of all deaths in the U.S. Costs related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) place a substantial financial burden on the health care system, accounting for an estimated $320 billion in 2016. Although most obesity or CVD prevention programs target only the individual level, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes that health is affected by factors at multiple levels: individual (e.g., behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, skills, psychological factors), social (e.g., influences from one's social network on health-related behaviors), and environmental (e.g., safe places to walk, food choices at workplaces, availability of affordable fruits and vegetables), and recommends integrating approaches to make changes beyond the individual level to support long-term, sustainable behavior change. Providing individuals with the motivation, skills, and opportunity to change behaviors may be less effective if their social or community environment makes it difficult to adopt or maintain these behaviors SH is a multilevel, multicomponent community-based program, in which an experiential learning focus is combined with social and environmental components, including civic engagement activities related to local resource awareness and enhancement. There is limited knowledge about how programs and services can move beyond commonly used individual-level approaches, which have limitations in terms of cost, impact, reach, and sustainability, to effectively reduce CVD health disparities using an integrated, multi-level, community-engaged approach. This pilot study will provide needed data on the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of such approaches in urban and underserved communities.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALStrong Hearts Urban
A 12-week multi-level intervention targeting behavior modification, nutrition education, strength training, aerobic exercise, and stress reduction activities
Sponsors
Texas A&M University
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
1. Women aged 18 or older 2. Overweight or obese (BMI≥25) 3. Less than 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week 4. Black/African American race and/or Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity
Exclusion criteria
1. Pregnancy, or intent to become pregnant during the study duration 2. Unable to read and communicate in English 3. Planning to participate in another health behavior change program in the next three months 4. Unable/unwilling to provide informed consent
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Body Weight | 12 weeks | Change in body weight |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Self-reported healthy eating behaviors | 12 weeks | Healthy Eating Index (HEI) as measured by Dietary Health Questionnaire (DHQ-III). The DHQ-III is a self-administered, web-based food frequency questionnaire scored 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate closer adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. |
| Physical activity - Active Minutes | 12 weeks | Objectively measured physical activity by Fitbit activity tracker, counted as Active Minutes |
| Fruit and Vegetable Consumption | 12 weeks | Dermal Carotenoid Score. As measured by Veggie Meter using a participant's index finger, the dermal carotenoid score (0-800) reflects a concentration biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake, where a higher score is correlated with higher intake. |
| Participant Acceptability | 12 weeks | Participant feedback from follow-up questionnaires measures acceptability on a 5-point Likert scale, where higher score indicates higher satisfaction |
| Intervention Engagement | 12 weeks | Engagement is assessed by attendance at study activities including intervention classes and data collection appointments |
| Physical activity - Steps | 12 weeks | Objectively measured physical activity by Fitbit activity tracker, counted as steps |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed