Despite multidisciplinary efforts to control the nation's obesity epidemic, obesity has persisted as one of the U.S.'s top public health problems, particularly among African Americans. Innovative approaches to address obesity that are sensitive to the unique issues of African Americans are needed. Thus, a faith-based weight-loss intervention using a community-based participatory research approach was developed, implemented, and evaluated with a rural African American faith community. A two-group, quasi-experimental, delayed intervention design was used, with church as the unit of assignment (treatment n = 2, control n = 2) and individual as the unit of observation (treatment n = 36, control n = 37). Weekly small groups led by trained community members met for 8 weeks and emphasized healthy nutrition, physical activity, and faith's connection with health. The mean weight loss of the treatment group was 3.60 ± 0.64 lbs. compared to the 0.59 ± 0.59-lb loss of the control group.
Allison, D.B., Fontaine, K.R., Manson, J.E., Stevens, J., & VanItallie, T.B. (1999). Annual deaths attributable to obesity in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association, 282(16), 1530-1538.
2.
Avenell, A., Brown, T.J., McGee, M.A., Campbell, M.K., Grant, A.M., Broom, J., et al. (2004a). What are the long-term benefits of weight reducing diets in adults? A systematic review of randomized controlled trials . Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 17(4), 317-335.
3.
Avenell, A., Brown, T.J., McGee, M.A., Campbell, M.K., Grant, A.M., Broom, J., et al. (2004b). What interventions should we add to weight reducing diets in adults with obesity? A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of adding drug therapy, exercise, behaviour therapy or combinations of these interventions. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics , 17(4), 293-316.
4.
Ball, K., Crawford, D., Ireland, P., & Hodge, A. (2003). Patterns and demographic predictors of 5-year weight change in a multi-ethnic cohort of men and women in Australia. Public Health Nutrition, 6(3), 269-281.
5.
Baranowski, T., Perry, C.L., & Parcel, G.S. (2003). How individuals, environments, and health behavior interact: Social cognitive theory. In F. M. Lewis (Ed.), Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 165-184). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
6.
Baskin, M.L., Resnicow, K., & Campbell, M.K. (2001). Conducting health interventions in Black churches: A model for building effective partnerships. Ethnicity and Disease, 11(4), 823-833.
7.
Campbell, M.K., Demark-Wahnefried, W., Symons, M., Kalsbeek, W.D., Dodds, J., Cowan, A., et al. (1999). Fruit and vegetable consumption and prevention of cancer: The Black Churches United for Better Health project. American Journal of Public Health, 89(9), 1390-1396.
8.
Campbell, M.K., James, A., Hudson, M.A., Carr, C., Jackson, E., Oakes, V., et al. (2004). Improving multiple behaviors for colorectal cancer prevention among African American church members. Health Psychology, 23(5), 492-502.
9.
Cooper, R.S., Kennelly, J.F., Durazo-Arvizu, R., Oh, H.J., Kaplan, G., & Lynch, J. (2001). Relationship between premature mortality and socioeconomic factors in Black and White populations of U.S. metropolitan areas. Public Health Reports, 116(5), 464-473.
10.
Corbie-Smith, G., Thomas, S.B., Williams, M.V., & Moody-Ayers, S. (1999). Attitudes and beliefs of African Americans toward participation in medical research. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 14(9), 537-546.
11.
Dalton, S. (1997). Body weight terminology, definitions, and measurement . In S. Dalton (Ed.), Overweight and weight management: The health professional's guide to understanding and practice (pp. 1-38). Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.
12.
DeHaven, M.J., Hunter, I.B., Wilder, L., Walton, J.W., & Berry, J. (2004). Health programs in faith-based organizations: Are they effective? American Journal of Public Health, 94(6), 1030-1036.
13.
Edstrom, K.M., & Devine, C.M. (2001). Consistency in women's orientations to food and nutrition in midlife and older age: A 10-year qualitative follow-up. Journal of Nutrition Education, 33(4), 215-223.
14.
Eng, E., & Hatch, J.W. (1991). Networking between Black churches and agencies: The lay health advisor model. Journal of Prevention in Human Services, 10(1), 123-146.
15.
Fontaine, K.R., Redden, D.T., Wang, C., Westfall, A.O., & Allison, D.B. (2003). Years of life lost due to obesity. Journal of the American Medical Association, 289(2), 187-193.
16.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.
17.
Heaney, C.A., & Israel, B.A. (2002). Social networks and social support. In F. M. Lewis (Ed.), Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 185-209). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
18.
Jackson, E.J., & Parks, C.P. (1997). Recruitment and training issues from selected lay health advisor programs among African Americans: A 20-year perspective . Health Education & Behavior, 24(4), 418-431.
19.
Jebb, S.A., Cole, T.J., Doman, D., Murgatroyd, P.R., & Prentice, A.M. (2000). Evaluation of the novel Tanita body-fat analyser to measure body composition by comparison with a four-compartment model. British Journal of Nutrition, 83(2), 115-122.
20.
Kumanyika, S.K. (2002). The minority factor in the obesity epidemic. Ethnicity and Disease, 12(3), 316-319.
21.
Kumanyika, S.K., & Charleston, J.B. (1992). Lose weight and win: A church-based weight loss program for blood pressure control among Black women . Patient Education and Counseling, 19(1), 19-32.
22.
McNabb, W., Quinn, M., Kerver, J., Cook, S., & Karrison, T. (1997). The PATHWAYS church-based weight loss program for urban African-American women at risk for diabetes. Diabetes Care, 20(10), 1518-1523.
23.
Mokdad, A.H., Ford, E.S., Bowman, B.A., Dietz, W.H., Vinicor, F., Bales, V.S., et al. (2003). Prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and obesity-related health risk factors, 2001. Journal of the American Medical Association, 289(1), 76-79.
24.
Must, A., Spadano, J., Coakley, E.H., Field, A.E., Colditz, G., & Dietz, W.H. (1999). The disease burden associated with overweight and obesity. Journal of the American Medical Association, 282(16), 1523-1529.
25.
Prochaska, J.O., Redding, C.A., & Evers, K.E. (2003). The transtheoretical model and stages of change . In F. M. Lewis (Ed.), Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 99-120). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
26.
Steensland, B., Park, J.Z., Regnerus, M.D., Robinson, L.D., Wilcox, W.B., & Woodberry, R.D. (2000). The measure of American religion: Toward improving the state of the art. Social Forces , 79(1), 1-28.
27.
Thompson, F.E., Kipnis, V., Subar, A.F., Schatzkin, A., Potischman, N., Kahle, L., et al. (1998). Performance of a short instrument to estimate usual dietary intake of percent calories from fat. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 52, S63.
28.
Thompson, F.E., Midthune, D., Subar, A.F., Kahle, L.L., Schatzkin, A., & Kipnis, V. (2004). Performance of a short tool to assess dietary intakes of fruits and vegetables, percentage energy from fat and fibre. Public Health Nutrition, 7(8), 1097-1105.
29.
Viswanathan, M., Ammerman, A., Eng, E., Garlehner, G., Lohr, K.N., Griffith, D., et al. (2004, August). Community-based participatory research: Assessing the evidence (Summary). Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, pp. 1-8.
30.
World Health Organization. (1998). Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation on obesity June 3-5, 1997. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.
31.
Yanek, L.R., Becker, D.M., Moy, T.F., Gittelsohn, J., & Koffman, D.M. (2001). Project Joy: Faith based cardiovascular health promotion for AfricanAmerican women. Public Health Reports , 116(Suppl. 1), 68-81.
