An Intergenerational Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Intervention to Reduce Appalachian Health Disparities

Nancy Schoenberg

Status: Completed

Conditions: Overweight; Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: LHA-delivered energy balance classes/activities

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT01373307

R01DK081324 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally appropriate, faith-placed lay health advisor intervention aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity among intergenerational Appalachian individuals and families.

Full description

The developmental phase of this project incorporated community based participatory research (CBPR) principles to identify the needs and preferences of community members with regard to energy balance. In the intervention phase, this group-randomized trial administers and evaluates an intergenerational, culturally appropriate energy balance intervention aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable intake and increasing physical activity among participants in 6 distressed Appalachian counties. Faith institutions are recruited and randomized to treatment or wait-list control conditions, and participants are recruited and enrolled within those institutions. Focusing on Appalachian children, parents, and grandparents, local lay health advisors deliver a series of group presentations, adapted from We Can! and Media Smart Youth. In addition, the project provides culturally consonant leave-behind "booster" activities, including square dances, cooking classes, and community gardens.

Enrollment: 1,250 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 8+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 8 years or above
• Able to provide informed consent/assent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

---

1,250 participants in 2 patient groups

Early Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants are nested in churches which were randomly assigned to receive the intervention first.

Treatment:

Behavioral: LHA-delivered energy balance classes/activities

Delayed Intervention

No Intervention group

Description:

Wait-list control group. Participants are nested in churches which were randomly assigned to receive the intervention at a later date. Delayed Intervention participants receive an educational luncheon addressing stress reduction during the window of no intervention.