MODIFYING DIETARY PATTERNS BY EMPOWERING BLACK WOMEN

本研究的目的是描述的潜在效用

The purpose of this study is to characterize the potential utility of community organization and empowerment strategies to modify dietary patterns of African American women who are at risk for Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM). A second focus is to compare this intervention strategy with a standard dietary counseling intervention delivered by a health professional. The community organization and empowerment (experimental) intervention involves the utilization of informal and formal networks to increase diet-related information and skills, enhance self-mastery, and modify dietary patterns among African American women. The intervention is delivered by 8 trained neighbors (Nutrition Neighbors) who are among graduates of a Wellness Course given by a well-established, credible social service agency in the proposed target community. The social service organization will serve as the sponsor or "lead agency" for the program. Through a variety of educational and skill building activities (discussion of video, development and utilization of shopping tip sheets, healthy food choice training, modification of high fat recipes, development of a Healthy Neighbors Cookbook), the experimental condition encourages active citizen participation, community ownership, and the integration of community norms and values into the program's messages and materials. The sample will consist of 80 African American adult women who reside in low income neighborhoods serviced by the lead agency, and who are overweight. The subjects will be randomly assigned to either the experimental (empowerment) condition or the control (standard counseling) condition. To evaluate the relative effectiveness of the two conditions, assessment interviews will be performed pre-, post, and 2 month follow-up. These assessment interviews will include: physical data, food frequencies and 24-hour food checklists, and self-mastery. Family environmental variables such as family resources and stressors, as well as socio-demographic factors, will be used to characterize the sample.