Obesity is a critical risk factor for heart disease, hypertension and diabetes; for African Americans, the risk is even greater. """"""""Bridging the Gap!"""""""" is an intervention program for overweight African American girls. The goals of the pilot intervention are: 1) to develop a culturally relevant wellness/prevention curriculum for pre-adolescent and early adolescent African American girls, age 8-14 that increases the health and reduces the risk of developing hypertension, diabetes and other obesity-related diseases; 2) to build a successful, research based, replicable intervention model that addresses a gap in services available to the African American community; and 3) to draw together grassroots organizations in partnership with major public and private institutions to provide a cost-effective continuum of health related services to the African American community. The purpose of this pilot research is to identify 150 African American girls whose body mass index (BMI) is in the 85 thpercentile. We will recruit 150 students with random assignment of 75 each to an experimental and control group. For one year, subjects will participate in a structured intervention program designed to improve their health and modify their behavior. We are hypothesizing that seventy African American girls age 8-14 will exhibit a significant drop in risk factors related to childhood obesity following one year participation in designed intervention. Girls entering the program will receive a complete medical screening and a comprehensive fitness assessment (at no cost) at the University of Pittsburgh. They will receive a personalized fitness plan designed to fit their level of health and fitness that they will work on with their mentor throughout the program year. Participants will cycle through four, 8-week program components guided by their peer mentor. Pre and post test measures will include weight, body mass index, a variety of fitness measures, and knowledge, behavior and attitudes related to nutrition and fitness. Behavioral changes will be measured by selected construct measures e.g. locus of control, stages of change model, and fitness behavior adoption measuring instruments. Subjects will be compared to control group as well as to standards and norms for their age, weight, sex, and race.
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