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Abstract #151358

Monique A. Collins, RN, MS, Public Health, Mental Health and Administration, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 S Damen MC 802, Chicago, IL 60612, 7737509468, mcolli4@uic.edu and Barbara L. Dancy, PhD, Pma, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 South Damen, Office 1060, M/C 802, Chicago, IL 60612.

3rd year PhD Student. Centering Wellness, a biweekly community based support group, focuses on healthy lifestyle promotion (nutrition education and physical activity). It was created to meet the needs of residents of a community in Chicago, Illinois that is predominantly, low income African American with high rates of chronic disease. As a public health nurse I have been working in this community for four years to determine the assets and obstacles to increasing fitness and healthy eating. Focus groups and interviews with Austin residents revealed that key facilitators to healthier lives include: access to fitness facility and healthy food, fitness coaches, tasting healthy food, and most importantly, having people they could talk to about weight loss. The support group covers these topics and activities: daily barriers and benefits to exercising and healthy eating, perceptions of healthy eating, improving friends and family's health, cooking demonstrations, healthier fast food alternatives, eating on the go, healthy eating on a budget, grocery shopping tour, and the relationship between improper nutrition and physical fitness and cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Participation rates have continued to increase. Participants have reported decreases in HbA1c, blood pressure, weight loss, improved self esteem, positive impact on family and friends and overall satisfaction with the progress made. There is a need for innovative programs at the community level. When the community can easily access resources and build upon the strengths within themselves and their community, they are more likely to have healthier lifestyles and thus improve their health outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• To recognize the role of a public health (community) nurse in screening for chronic disease and linking residents of a low income community together to hold support groups that promote healthy eating, exercise, and chronic disease prevention in addition to referring them to needed medical services.
• Describe 5 techniques to facilitate Centering Wellness support groups that encourage the promotion of positive health behaviors in urban low income African American communities through group support and activities.
• To discuss the implications of a healthy eating and physical activity peer support group model to improve the health of other low income African American communities.

Keywords: Weight Management, Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.