Identifying Factors That Promote Physical Activity Among Minority and Economically Disadvantaged Women

Johns Hopkins University, Center for Adolescent Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Saint Louis University, Prevention Research Center

University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois Prevention Research Centers

University of New Mexico, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

University of South Carolina, Prevention Research Center

Topics:
Nutrition & Physical Activity for Adults | Cardiovascular Health

Physical inactivity is a risk factor for obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease.  Rates for these conditions are higher among African-American, American-Indian, and economically disadvantaged women. Six Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) collaborated to form a Women’s Cardiovascular Health Network to develop and test two surveys: one survey identified the social, cultural, and environmental factors and policies that influence a woman’s decision to engage in physical activity; the other tool measured women's activity levels. The centers tested the surveys with groups of  African-American and low-income women living in urban and rural areas of Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Saint Louis, and South Carolina as well as Navajo, Pueblo, and urban Indian communities in New Mexico. The network made its findings and survey instruments available to community, state, and public health agencies to help agency staff design culturally appropriate interventions to prevent and reduce the risk for chronic diseases in women of different ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds (see Eyler AA, Matson-Koffman D, Vest JR, Evenson KR, Sanderson B, Thompson JL, Wilbur J, Willcox S, Young DR.  Environmental, policy, and cultural factors related to physical activity in a diverse sample of women: The Women's Cardiovascular Health Network Project-summary and discussion. Women Health 2002;36(2):123–34.).

 

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