We Walk in New Haven (We WiN) – A community-based fitness & nutrition intervention designed to reduce health disparities among underserved populations

Design/Methodology: We WiN is a community-based fitness & nutrition program created to address the racial & ethnic health disparities of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity that exist among African Americans and Hispanics. The program is designed to be community-driven, culturally sensitive, social and neighborhood-based. An important goal of the program is to motivate individuals and families to improve their health through permanent lifestyle changes that include regular exercise and improvements in dietary intake. Fitness classes and nutrition education are offered in 12-week sessions. There are 4 sessions per year. Each session is preceded and followed by a mandatory health assessment. A modest fee is charged per session. Participants can continue in the program as long as they desire. Analysis on 74 participants is based on Wellsource Personal Wellness Profile - Concise Assessment Plus and includes clinical data (blood pressure, blood sugar, height, weight, BMI, percent body fat, waist and hip measurements) and participant responses to health-related questions. Evaluation: Participants were mostly female, African Americans, obese and in their mid-fifties. Wellsource analysis shows that there was a significant decrease in blood glucose levels. Although not significant, there were decreases in percent body fat; waist to hip ratio; and waist girth. There was a 21.7%, 20.0%, 18.0%, and 13.0% increase in the number of participants who moved to the low coronary risk; good fitness status; low cancer risk; and less than 5 sick days per year categories, respectively. Also, there were improvements in the areas of nutrition, substance use, alcohol use, coping and stress status, sleep habits, and the use of seat belts. Conclusion: Periodic assessments and analysis of data using a nationally validated instrument enabled a community-based fitness and nutrition program to demonstrate a measurable impact on reducing health disparities among underserved populations. (Data analysis partially funded by the Connecticut NIH EXPORT Center of Excellence for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (grant # P20MD001765))