A Community-Based Weight Loss Intervention Program for Rural African American Women

Obesity continues to be a significant health problem for African American women. While a number of obesity interventions target urban African American women, few target rural ones. The LIFE Project is a 10-week intervention designed to reduce obesity in this rural population. Two different interventions (spiritually based and nonspiritually based) were pilot tested, each utilizing a pretest, posttest design. Results demonstrated that both interventions led to significant reductions in weight, but the spiritually based intervention led to additional improvements. The LIFE Project also demonstrated that churches are appropriate settings to deliver health interventions to these women.