Pasos Hacia La Salud - Physical Activity Intervention for Latinas
Condition: Inactivity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      In this study, investigators are specifically targeting Latina women as they are more likely
      to be inactive and, therefore, are at higher risk for developing chronic conditions such as
      obesity, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.

      The objective of Pasos Hacia La Salud is to test a Spanish-language Internet-based Physical
      Activity Intervention, in comparison to a Spanish-language Internet-based Wellness Contact
      Control condition. Participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups (Exercise and
      General Wellness).

      The investigators hypothesize that at the end of treatment, intervention participants will
      report significantly more minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week than the
      wellness contact control participants.
    

Detailed description: 
      In the U.S., Latino women (Latinas) report higher rates of inactivity than their non-Hispanic
      White and male counterparts and thus are disproportionately burdened by related health
      conditions (e.g., cancer, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes). Cultural factors,
      socioeconomic circumstances, language and educational barriers limit Latinas access to public
      health interventions that promote physically active lifestyles. To address this public health
      crisis, effective interventions that leverage state-of-the-art theory and methods are needed
      to reach this at-risk population. Our research group has over 20 years experience developing
      and evaluating individually-tailored, computer expert system-driven, physical activity
      interventions (based on Social Cognitive Theory and the Transtheoretical Model) through
      various channels and settings. In our recent pilot (R21NR009864), we culturally and
      linguistically adapted our tailored intervention for sedentary Latinas and conducted a small
      randomized trial of the modified program (N=93). A total of 81 participants completed the
      6-month study (87% retention) and increased their physical activity from a mean of 17 minutes
      per week (SD=25.76) at baseline to 147 minutes (SD=241.55) at six months whereas contact
      control participants increased their physical activity from 12 minutes per week (SD=21.99) at
      baseline to 97 minutes (SD=118.49) at six months. These observed improvements in physical
      activity in our intervention group, along with high retention rates, participant-reported
      desire for an Internet-delivered program, and formative work developing our program in an
      Internet format lend support for testing an Internet intervention tailored to the needs of
      Latinas. Therefore, for the current proposal, we will build on our previous work by
      conducting an adequately powered (N=200) randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of
      our culturally and linguistically modified, individually tailored physical activity
      intervention delivered via the Internet relative to an Internet wellness contact control
      condition (including cardiovascular health information developed for Latinos by the NHLBI).
      Data will be collected at baseline, 6 months (post-treatment), and 12 months (maintenance)
      using well-established physical activity measures (7-Day PAR, Actigraphs), as well as a
      comprehensive set of psychosocial questionnaires. We hypothesize that at end of treatment
      (month six) intervention participants will report significantly more minutes of moderate
      intensity physical activity per week than the wellness contact control participants. We will
      also examine the maintenance of treatment effects at 12 months, potential mediators and
      moderators of the intervention-physical activity relationship, and the costs of delivering
      the tailored Internet program. In the proposed study we seek to promote physical activity
      among an underserved population using a high-reach, low-cost, technology-based strategy,
      which has great potential for adoption on a larger scale and thus high potential for reducing
      health disparities in the U.S.
    

Intervention name(s): Physical Activity Intervention; Wellness Control
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants in the Physical Activity intervention arm of the study receive a Spanish language, motivationally-tailored, Internet-based Physical Activity intervention that specifically addresses the Physical Activity barriers and intervention needs/preferences of Latinas.; Participants will receive a Spanish language, Internet-based Wellness Contact control intervention addressing relevant health topics other than physical activity.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Physical Activity; Latinas; Web-based; Spanish-language