ALIVE! A Community-research Partnership to Design and Test a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention with African American Churches

Background: Black-white disparities in cardiopulmonary diseases are partly due to greater prevalence of poor diet among African Americans. The ALIVE! Project is a faith-based intervention conducted by a partnership between academic researchers and church leaders from five African American churches to increase vegetable consumption among African Americans.

Methods: The ALIVE! project consisted of a needs assessment, including individual interviews (n=61), eleven focus groups (n=161), and a church-wide survey (n=812), and the design and pilot testing of a church-based intervention. The intervention consisted of a Bible Study emphasizing scriptural support for healthy living, video-based nutrition education and cooking demonstrations, and small-groups led by church facilitators to support behavior change. Church-wide intervention strategies included messages from the pulpit, church-wide healthy eating events, and notices in church bulletins. Dietary consumption was measured using two 24-hour food recalls for intervention participants and a church-wide survey.

Results: 206 participants were enrolled in the small group intervention across 5 churches. Mean age of the sample was 56.4, 90% were female, 48.5% of participants had a bachelor’s degree or higher, the most prevalent chronic diseases were diabetes (19.3%), asthma (20.2%) and hypertension (53.4%). At baseline, 83.5% of intervention participants ate < 1 non-starchy vegetable serving per day measured by food recalls. In the baseline church-wide survey (n=738), 51.1% of participants self-reported eating < 2 non-starchy vegetable servings per day. Post-intervention outcomes will be reported. 

Conclusion: Community-research partnerships may be an effective method for improving dietary behavior in African American communities and reducing black-white disparities in cardiopulmonary diseases.