Physical Activity in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities

Background
Chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes now account for more than 70% of deaths in the United States each year. A landmark study attributed approximately one-half of all US deaths to modifiable risk factors, including physical inactivity. While chronic diseases are a concern for all populations, racial/ethnic minority populations carry a higher burden of these diseases than the US population as a whole. Elimination of these health disparities is one of the most important goals of public health as set forth in Healthy People 2010.

In order to address these disparities it is important to use evidence-based approaches while at the same time recognizing that minority populations may have determinants of behavior that are different from majority populations and may be best served by different approaches to interventions. Therefore, while the translation of evidence-based approaches to behavior change may be useful, it is critical to engage members of these racial/ethnic minority communities in determining criteria and evaluating interventions to ascertain which interventions are likely to be most effective and to ensure that these interventions are translated in such a way that meet participant needs and the contexts within which they live.

Mission
To work with the Prevention Research Center National Community Committee (PRCNCC- geographically distributed representatives from African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American communities) to develop criteria for evaluating interventions, rank interventions, and pilot test evidence-based interventions to increase physical activity in racially/ethnically diverse communities.

Activities
Through our grant, we will:

• Provide training to PRCNCC members on evidence-based public health;

• Develop criteria for evaluating interventions based on criteria generated by the scientific community (e.g., the Community Guide) as well as by the Prevention Research Center National Community Committee;

• Apply criteria to the peer reviewed and “grey” literature, rank interventions;

• Review the findings (rankings) and work with academic and NCC partners to prioritize intervention strategies; and

• Develop demonstration projects to test the approaches found to be most promising; and,

• Disseminate the findings from the project through the use of an interactive web based tool

Innovations and Uses of Findings
This study is among the first to work with the PRCNCC to systematically develop and adapt evidence-based guidelines for physical activity interventions in racially/ethnically diverse communities. It will build capacity for the academic and community partners in our PRCs to collaborate effectively in the future.

Course Slides
Click on the titles below to open the PowerPoint presentations from the course.

• Course Overview
• Coalition Building/Partnership
• Quantifying the Evidence
• Community Assessment
• Action Planning
• Program Evaluation