The Living Well by Faith Health and wellness program for African Americans: an exemplar of community-based participatory research.
(30/32)
BACKGROUND: Using community-based participatory research (CBPR) as a guiding framework, a faith-based diet, nutrition and physical activity intervention for African Americans was implemented and evaluated as a small-scale randomized trial. METHODS: Five churches were recruited (intervention=3, control=2), resulting in an enrolled sample of 106 adults (intervention=74, control=32). The control group received a minimal intervention consisting of one educational workshop. The Living Well By Faith intervention group received a more intensive 8-week program. Classes were held twice a week and included educational workshops and exercise sessions. Both interventions were delivered at participating churches. Assessments for program evaluation occurred at baseline and 2-month follow-up. These included weight, blood pressure, percent body fat, and physical fitness using the step test. RESULTS: The sample was predominantly African American, female and well educated. At baseline, no significant differences between intervention and control groups were found for any of the primary endpoints. At 2-months follow up, the intervention group, compared to the control group, showed significant decreases in weight (P<.02), BMI (P<.05), and % body fat (P<.03), with a significant increase in physical fitness (P<.02). Systolic blood pressure also showed group differences in the predicted direction (P=.10). CONCLUSION: This study provides an exemplar of CBPR. The results obtained are sufficiently promising to support more research involving similar interventions of longer duration and with longer-term follow-up for evaluation. (+info)
Use and sanctification of complementary and alternative medicine by parents of children with cystic fibrosis.
(31/32)
Traditional and alternative therapy for mental illness in Jamaica: patients' conceptions and practitioners' attitudes.
(32/32)
The aim of this study was to investigate traditional and alternative therapy for mental illness in Jamaica: patients' conceptions and practitioners' attitudes. The sample included 60 psychiatric patients selected from Ward 21 at the University of the West Indies, Kingston as well as Princess Margaret outpatient clinic, and 30 Afro-centric psychiatric nurses, psychiatrist and clinical psychologists from Kingston and St. Thomas, Jamaica. Patients were interviewed with the Short Explanatory Model Interview (SEMI) and practitioners completed a self administered questionnaire on attitudes towards traditional and alternative medicine. Results indicate that among psychiatric patients more than a third expressed the belief that the overall cause of their mental illness was as a result of supernatural factors. In general, the majority of patients felt that their perception of their problems did not concur with the western practitioner, which in turn caused distress for these patients. In case for those who also sought traditional medicine, they were more inclined to feel pleased about their interaction and the treatment they received. Results from western trained practitioners found that although they acknowledged that traditional medicine plays a major role in the treatment of mental illness among psychiatric patients the treatment was not advantageous. For the most part when all three traditional approaches were examined alternative medicine seemed more favourable than traditional healing and traditional herbal treatment. There is a need to develop models of collaboration that promote a workable relationship between the two healing systems in treating mental illness. (+info)