A public health care plan's innovative community-driven prevention approach to improve physical activity and healthy eating behaviors among low-income communities of color in Los Angeles County

Health care providers serving underserved populations must push forward innovative prevention efforts to address persistent health disparities. L.A. Care Health Plan created the Nutrition and Zumba Project in response to HEDIS performance measures and community input suggesting a need to address diabetes and obesity in its subscriber communities. This session will describe key elements of the project, report significant outcomes, and offer lessons learned for other community-driven prevention efforts. Participants were recruited by a coalition of L.A. Care subscribers, community advocates, and health care providers operating in 11 designated areas throughout LA County. Participants engaged in six two-hour nutrition and exercise sessions throughout a 12-week period. Participants were weighed, completed a physical activity and nutrition behavior questionnaire, and completed a nutrition knowledge quiz at the first and last session. Outreach efforts covered 3,813 sq. mi. (93% of LA County) and yielded 415 participants. Participants were predominantly female, Latino, foreign-born, had two or more children, and classified as overweight or obese (BMI >25). Weight loss among participants in each cohort averaged 0.2 – 12.6 lbs. Average knowledge scores improved 9 percentage points. Over 95% of participants rated their experience in the project as “good” or “excellent” and would recommend the project to others. These findings suggest that Nutrition and Zumba Project was readily accepted by community members and has potential to elicit significant improvements in weight and lifestyle behaviors. Efforts are currently underway to recruit a more diverse participant pool and create more robust curriculum and learning activities for future participants.