Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
PROJECT SUMMARY Decreasing sedentary behavior has numerous health benefits. Yoga is an emerging activity that has the potential to decrease sedentary behavior in adults, and reduce risk factors such as high blood pressure and stress. Although yoga has the reputation of attracting college-educated, non-Hispanic, white populations and is sometimes viewed as exclusionary to those outside that community, it has become increasingly popular among African-Americans with the growth of Afrocentric (i.e., focusing on Black or African culture) yoga, the establishment of Black yoga organizations, and the expansion of social media presence of African-American yoga practitioners. The literature suggests that yoga could be an effective strategy to address adverse health outcomes by decreasing sedentary behavior in African-Americans, however this has not been examined in African-American women. The primary objective of this application is to test the feasibility, acceptability, safety and targeted outcomes of a 3-month hatha and restorative yoga intervention to decrease sedentary behavior (primary outcome), stress and blood pressure in 60 sedentary (<30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA per week) African-American women. The proposed study has four aims: Aim 1: To refine a promising and innovative intervention to enhance its feasibility. Based on our previously developed intervention, I HEART Yoga!, and subsequent experience, we will refine intervention strategies to incorporate findings from the pilot research and theoretically ground the intervention using an integrated model incorporating constructs from the Social Cognitive Theory and collectivism (i.e., social connectedness, sense of belonging, and community cohesion). We will conduct two focus groups of sedentary African-American women (n=16) to seek feedback on the intervention strategies (e.g., yoga sequences). Aim 2: Assess feasibility of a hatha and restorative yoga intervention (n=30) compared to a control group (n=30). We will examine feasibility of participant recruitment, retention and adherence; fidelity of intervention delivery; and intervention materials. Aim 3: Evaluate the acceptability and safety of a hatha and restorative yoga intervention (n=30) compared to a control group (n=30). We will examine the acceptability of intervention location and strategies, class format, enjoyment of sessions, and safety of the intervention. Aim 4: To test feasibility and appropriateness of the targeted outcomes (i.e., primary: sedentary behavior and secondary: blood pressure and stress) for subsequent trials. It is important to properly measure expected outcomes but not make comparisons between intervention and control groups. This proposed pilot study is important to understand the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of innovative strategies to decrease sedentary behavior, blood pressure and stress in a high-risk population. The experience and knowledge acquired from this pilot study will move us closer to a full-scale efficacy trial.
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