Participant Response to an Inner-City Weight Loss and Exercise Program

Friday, 21 July 2006
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Friday, 21 July 2006
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Karen E. Walker, RN, PhD¹, Cecily Knauer, BS², and Diane C. Adler, PhD, FAAN, FCCM¹. (1) Department of Nursing, Temple University, College of Health Professions, Philadelphia, PA, USA, (2) Department of Anthropology, Temple University, College of Liberal Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA

This project is a qualitative study of the responses of 15 participants who completed a 72-week-long community-based program for weight loss and increased physical activity. The program is an on-going study involving over 90 subjects, primarily African American females, organized into 3 cohorts. The aim of the study is to compare the maintenance of weight loss in two randomized groups engaged in different modes of walking (structured bouts vs. daily steps) one year after all individuals experienced the same 20-week behavior modification program for lifestyle change. The 15 participants who agreed to be interviewed regarding their reactions to the program were all members of the first cohort. Their weight changes ranged from a slight gain to a greater than 25 pound loss. The scripted interviews were conducted by an anthropological doctoral candidate with experience in the technique. She was not associated with the program in any other capacity. The interviews were recorded and transcribed with full informed consent. The purpose of this study is to try to measure some of the more intangible effects of the program that cannot be captured via the hard data that looks at change in weight, fitness level, or lipid profile. In this preliminary analysis, three major themes are apparent: 1) the importance of small support group structure with an educational component to the individual’s connection with or ownership of knowledge; 2) the need for both self-accountability and accountability to an outside structure/group as motivation for change; and 3) the need of the individual to recognize the complexity of their kin/social networks that tend to both hinder and help their efforts toward lifestyle change. Interviews with completers from the second cohort are currently being conducted. With the additional comments, the investigators plan to elaborate these themes and others related to race, class and gender.

Learning Objective #1: describe the importance of small group interactionon the ownership of knowledge.
Learning Objective #2: describe the need for self-accountability and accountability to a structure/group for motivation.