Life's A B.E.A.C.H. B etter Eating Positive Attitude and Choosing a Healthier Lifestyle is a culturally sensitive " Healthy Weight" curriculum designed for overweight African-American middle school children. The intervention is designed with a ethnically appropriate format utilizing African-American media materials, cuisine, and group facilitators. The goals of the intervention are to facilitate awareness of weight status without engendering an unhealthy preoccupation on weight, promote healthy eating habits, increase lifestyle physical activity, decrease sedentary activity and foster a positive body image. A pilot study of Life's a B.E.A.C.H. has been conducted assessing program delivery in two formats. 422 African-American middle school students were screened using psychosocial and anthropometric measures (height, weight, and triceps skinfolds) with 84 students identified as overweight. Of the overweight youths, 13 participated in a two-week summer camp provided on-site at a middle school. Daily intervention strategies included: a didactic component , supervised lifestyle fitness, and a hands-on component ( ie. cooking lessons). Various behavior modification techniques such as stimulus control, contingency management, and problem solving were employed to conjure positive attitudes towards weight management. The remaining 71 overweight children who did not participate in the camp were placed into an 8-week intervention mail-out addressing similar topics as above but tailored for parent/child interaction. Collection of evaluation data on the efficacy of both intervention formats is ongoing. We propose to use a longitudinal cohort design to test effects over time of exposure to the Life's A B.E.A.C.H. program.
Learning Objectives: Objectives: the learner will understand how to conduct community-level obesity research and how to approach implementation of a culturally sensitive weight management program for overweight minority youths
Keywords: Weight Management, Minority Health
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.