Preventing weight gain rather than treating recognized obesity is an important economic and public health response to the growing levels of obesity nationwide. Community centers offer potential sites for community health promotion programs targeting African Americans. In this article, results from a pilot health promotion program at a community center are reported. The purpose of this 12-month pilot program was to improve diet and increase physical activity to prevent weight gain in African-American adults by delivering a lifestyle intervention. Fifty-one African-American adults were randomized into two groups: lifestyle intervention or financial counseling, and 73% completed the program. At the end of 12 months, weight for all participants was maintained from baseline to completion with no significant differences between the groups. Both lifestyle intervention and financial counseling groups were approximately 87% food secure with improvements observed in self-esteem and total quality of life scores.
Keywords: financial counseling; healthy living; nutrition education.