Resumen de Innovative Care Delivery Model to Address Obesity in Older African-American Women: Senior Wellness Initiative and Take Off Pounds Sensibly Collaboration for Health (SWITCH)
Objectives: To determine the feasibility and acceptability of integrating Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), a national nonprofit weight-loss program through which people have lost a clinically significant amount of weight, into a community program that serves African Americans (AAs) and to determine weight change.
Design: Single-group pilot design.
Setting: Denver, Colorado.
Participants: Community-dwelling participants aged 51 to 85.
Intervention: Participants were recruited through a program that serves AAs, and new TOPS chapters were started at a church, senior center, and senior residence for independent living.
Measurements: Feasibility was measured by determining the ease of recruitment and acceptability was measured according to retention. The secondary outcome was weight change.
Results: Sixty-four percent of people who were referred to the program or attended an information session participated in the study. The retention rate at 52 weeks was 79%. At 52 weeks, 16 of 48 participants had lost 5% or more of their initial weight, and 23 had lost 0% to 4.9% of their initial weight.
Conclusions: Recruiting AA women through the Center for African American Health was feasible, and the program was acceptable. One-third of participants lost a clinically significant amount of weight. TOPS may be one way to combat the health disparity of obesity in AA women.
