Promising Practice

Body and Soul: A Faith Based Health Improvement Initiative

State/Jurisdiction: Florida
Setting: Community
Population: Women & Maternal
Topic Area: Nutrition & Physical Activity
NPMs: NA

This practice is no longer being implemented. Unfortunately, there is no contact information available for this practice. The 2002 county Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey for Jacksonville-Duval County reported that more than 40% of African Americans in this population are overweight or obese. Despite the prevalence of overweight, only 15% of African Americans said they were advised by a health care professional to lose weight. In response to this widespread problem, a faith based partnership of public health, academic and community-based organizations collaborated to design and implement a 12-week education and exercise program (Body and Soul: A Faith Based Health Improvement Initiative), which consisted of weekly meetings with lectures, cooking, and physical activity to improve the health and well-being of overweight African American church members. The program also included an additional 12 week phase (II) that involved maintaining weight loss and sustaining healthy behaviors via peer support groups.


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Implementation Handout



CONTACT INFORMATION
AMCHP
Evidence & Implementation Team
evidence@amchp.org

Practice Website