Public Health Innovations in Research and Development (PHIRE) has concluded its four-year federal grant project to share the success of the Healthy Eating & Active Living in The Spirit (HEALS) program with other communities of faith in South Carolina. The collective success of the University and African-American faith communities to contribute to the improved health of African Americans through the HEALS approach was realized through this grant opportunity. South Carolina has some of the largest health disparities in the nation, which are most apparent among African Americans. Most of these disparities can be traced to the effects of poor diet, low levels of physical activity, and stress. PHIRE’s role in disseminating and implementing the HEALS program, “Diet & Activity Community Trial: High-Risk Inflammation,” that focused on reducing disease-related inflammation by improving diet, physical activity levels and reducing the impact of stress, known as DIDACTIC, which stands for Dissemination and Implementation of a Diet and Activity Community Trial in Churches has been instrumental in expanding the network of participant churches.
Over the four-year period of DIDACTIC, the focus was on four main issues:
- Disseminating and implementing the HEALS intervention with African-American faith communities
- Developing faith-community abilities to evaluate and monitor ensuring that we continue improvements in the results of HEALS
- Determining the costs and benefits of HEALS through a cost-effectiveness analyses that will help us understand how our efforts are a good investment of our time and resources
- Enhancing the ability of the African-American churches and their surrounding communities to sustain the presentation of HEALS through leadership development and training.
Project Summary
HEALS Intervention
Healthy Eating and Active Living in the Spirit (HEALS) is a health behavior intervention that addresses health behaviors of African Americans in South Carolina. The program is tailored for African American churches in the Midlands of South Carolina. Since African Americans have been found to have higher rates of cancers, including breast, prostate and colon cancers, the HEALS program aims to help program participants reduce their chance of getting these kinds of diseases by helping the participants reduce inflammation in their body. The program consists of 12 weekly sessions that educate the participants on ways to make healthy eating choices and work physical activity into their routine on a regular basis which are then followed by 9 monthly sessions to reinforce what the participants learn in their 12 weekly sessions. The participants are measured for their weight, height and blood pressure to give them some benchmarks to help them measure their progress. The sessions involve learning healthy cooking tips and recipes. The sessions also provide physical activity demonstrations and advice on how to incorporate regular exercise into people’s daily routine to help them reduce inflammation.