Faith-Based Initiative to Promote Health in Appalachia

Mark Dignan, PhD669 enrolled

Overview

The project will target two behavioral causes of obesity: a sedentary lifestyle and an unhealthy diet. The goal is to test a faith-based intervention among men and women who are members of participating Appalachian churches. The primary hypothesis being tested in this project is: The change in body mass index from baseline to one year follow-up in intervention churches will be greater than among comparison churches, such that the differential change will be negative on average.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

669

Conditions

Cancer Obesity

Interventions

Walk by FaithBEHAVIORAL

The Walk by Faith program is aimed at increasing physical activity and improving healthy eating to reduce or maintain healthy BMI among members of the churches.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 or older * Member of the participating church who has attended services at least 4 times in the past 2 months * resident of an Appalachia county * Able bodied (no contraindications to physical activity and no dietary restrictions that are part of a medically prescribed diet for weight loss or formal weight loss program) * Able to read and write in English * Have a BMI indicating that they are overweight (BMI \> or = 25.0, assessed during biometric measurement) * Under 400 pounds (per self-report and confirmed during biometric measurement) * Not planning to move out of the area within the next year * Does not reside in nursing facility or residential home * If female, is not pregnant, breastfeeding or less than 9 months post-partum and does not intend to become pregnant during the study * Able to provide informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Does not meet Inclusion criteria

Locations (5)

Markey Cancer Center

Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio, United States

Penn State University

University Park, Pennsylvania, United States

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in body mass index from baseline to one year follow-up

Time frame: Baseline, month 12

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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