Reducing cardiometabolic risk among African immigrants: Implementation and evaluation of a culturally tailored nutrition education and physical activity intervention

Cardiometabolic diseases are among the leading causes of death and disabilities in the U.S. and worldwide. African immigrants report better health indicators for cardiometabolic diseases on arrival to the U.S. but their risk profile gets worse with increased length of stay in the U.S. characterized by higher rates of overweight and obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, adding to the already high burden of cardiometabolic diseases that exists in the U.S. Risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases include old age, family history, low socioeconomic status, sedentary lifestyle, tobacco use, obesity, physical inactivity, and unhealthy dietary behaviors. The introduction of new immigrants to a wide range of food in the American food environment with little to no guidance on how to make healthy choices and the lack of access to culturally tailored physical activity education can facilitate the adoption of unhealthy diet and physical activity habits by new immigrant families. Consequently, African immigrants have reported health behavior changes such as increased consumption of fast-food, reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables, and reduced physical activity while living in the U.S. This project is aimed at implementing a culturally tailored nutrition education and physical activity intervention to improve diet quality, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity practices among Nigerian immigrants in U.S. In the current study, an existing program (Abriendo Caminos) previously developed for Hispanic families was adapted for use among Nigerian immigrants living in Illinois to create a program tagged Pathway to Health. Cultural tailoring of the program was achieved by engaging community stakeholders in the Nigerian immigrant communities during the planning and implementation phase to ensure alignment of program structure and content with culture, behaviors, and norms of the target population. The intervention included a 75-minute weekly video conference call for six weeks followed by the provision of two-month bi-weekly health messaging to parents using text messages. Components of the weekly meetings included adult and child nutrition education lessons, physical activity lessons, and family functioning lessons. Ten recent Nigerian immigrant families living in Illinois who had at least one child aged 6-12 years completed the Pathway to Health program. A mixed method approach was used to evaluate the potential impact and acceptability of the program. The program recorded positive trends towards improvement in skin carotenoids, a biomarker for fruit and vegetable intake measured with a Veggie Meter®, daily steps count measured by Fitbit Inspire 2®, and self-reported physical activity measured with the IPAQ-SF. All parents reported that the program positively impacted their fruits and vegetable intake and most parents reported that lessons learned during the intervention improved their awareness of the importance of physical activity and made them more intentional about engaging in physical activity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Community Health

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Akingbule, Oluwatosin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Teran-Garcia, Margarita
• Alston, Reginald J
• Schwingel, Andiara
• Strauser, David

• African Immigrants
• Nigerian Immigrants
• Culturally Tailored Program
• Fruits And Vegetable
• Physical Activity
• Nutrition Education
• Obesity Prevention
• Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Oluwatosin Akingbule

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121242

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121242