HEALTHY LIFESTYLES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN THROUGH WEIGHT LOSS

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The purpose of this project is to compare the effectiveness of HYPE (Health Years through Physical Exercise), a culturally tailored exercise intervention added to Behavior Choice Treatment (BCT) and Behavior Therapy (BT), with both BCT and Behavior Therapy (BT) plus walking. The primary outcomes are sustained behavioral changes and weight maintenance over two-year follow up. The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that BCT plus HYPE can promote greater continuing weight loss and exercise maintenance over 24 month follow-up. We have formulated this hypothesis based on results of previous studies, which demonstrate that Behavior Choice Treatment was successfully applied to promote continuing weight loss and exercise over 12 month follow-up1 and data with African American women demonstrating weight stabilization out to two years. The objectives of this particular application are (1) to further evaluate the long-term efficacy of Behavior Choice Treatment compared to traditional behavior therapy among African-American women and (2) to examine the impact of using HYPE, an exercise program tailored to African American women, in promoting long-term weight maintenance. This treatment may have far-reaching implications for not only controlling obesity, but for the maintenance of health behavior in other disease states (e.g., hypertension, diabetes) and for health promotion.