Testing the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) on Reducing Weight
(Heather Paper)
Building on the relationships and progress in reducing heart disease
risk, our team continued to focus on reducing chronic disease risk by
focusing more on weight loss. With funding from the NIH National
Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), we modified
our approach by testing the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) in the
congregational setting. The DPP was a well-known program with global
reach, that is successful improving diet, increasing physical activity,
and reducing weight in order to lower chronic disease
risk.60 Our programs and a large body of research
demonstrate that African American women have disproportionately higher
rates of obesity, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular
disease compared to White women.61 African American
women tend to have less success than others in lifestyle interventions
and DPP translations in African Americans have been
suboptimal.62-65
We continued using church-based community health workers to co-deliver
and support the program elements in the congregations. Consistent with
the findings from our heart disease risk reduction program, we combined
faith-based components - including active church leader support – into
the standard DPP curriculum. Participants in the program who were
followed for 10 months had significant improvements in weight loss,
health behaviors, and biometrics.66 The study is very
important for several reasons. It demonstrated that participants in the
faith-based adaption of the DPP who received at least 15 sessions nearly
reached the DPP’s original goal of 7% weight loss and met the CDC’s
goal of 5% weight loss. Thus, a faith-based version of the DPP has the
potential to help African American women reach 5% weight loss in a
community-setting outside of the AHC. Further, the program demonstrated
that female African-American congregation members can successfully
deliver the DPP providing a potential pathway for increasing reach and
adoption into high-risk communities.66