“It Must Go Beyond Dieting”: A Qualitative Study on Designing mHealth Weight Management Programs for African American Women

List key components in designing a mHealth weight management program for African American women The high rate of obesity, ownership of smartphones, online search for nutrition/dieting information among African American women (AAW) provide a unique opportunity to develop cost-effective, accessible, and acceptable mHealth weight management programs for them. Furthermore, they should participate in the development and evaluation of these programs. To explore ideal components of a culturally relevant mHealth weight management program for AAW, and to examine how these components may vary by age group. Methods. Twelve focus group triads (FGT) were conducted with AAW (n=36) in north-central Florida. Participants were smartphone owners who expressed a desire to lose weight. The framework method was used to manage, organize, synthesize, and analyze data themes by gender and age group—18-29 (young), 30-50 (middle-age), and 51+ (older). Based on BMI, young women were overweight (26.23±6.7), middle-aged women were obese (30.72±8.31), and older women were obese (31.03±5.67). Most (70%) searched online for dieting information within the past 12 months. Five overarching themes for designing mHealth weight management programs were identified: 1) holistic program that goes beyond dieting; 2) social media integration for support and sense of community; 3) self-monitoring app; 4) programs of varying lengths and meaningful incentives, and 5) two-way text messaging. AAW were receptive to mHealth weight management programs, which may be appealing during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Holistic programs of four to six weeks that addressed stress eating, had a social media component, and a few educational texts per week may be appealing to AAW.