African American women name the church as their primary source of support, but little is known about household support. As part of a church-based health promotion project, we explored sources of support for changes in eating and physical activity behaviors. African American women aged 40 and older were recruited from Sunday church services in 16 Baltimore City churches. Prior to intervention, participants completed a baseline screening, including questions characterizing household makeup and perceived support from household members for changes in diet and exercise. Weekly nutrition and physical activity sessions were held in each church for one year. After this, a followup screening was completed including questions ascertaining support received from household members and others in the past year. To date 160 women have completed all screenings. Of these, 24% lived alone and were excluded from further analyses. Of those who were married (50%; 61/122): at baseline, 54% felt their husband would support healthy changes; at followup, 87% reported that their husband was at least a little supportive of healthy changes. Of those who lived with children (58%; 71/122): at baseline, 55% felt their children would support healthy changes; at followup, 79% reported that their children were at least a little supportive of healthy changes. These results suggest that perceived household support for healthy lifestyle changes appears to be lower than reported support. Importantly, the majority of participants reported support for changes from primary household members, who may be an underutilized resource for supporting lifestyle changes for African American women.
Learning Objectives: Participants in this session will be able to: 1. Recognize sources of support for African American women. 2. Describe differences between perceived and reported support for lifestyle changes in African American women
Keywords: Faith Community, Family Involvement
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.