Browsing by Author "Georgiadis, Yanoula M."

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    Reducing Physical Activity Disparities Among Vulnerable Minorities: Methods and Preliminary Outcomes
    (2022) Alamilla, Rafael A.; Georgiadis, Yanoula M.; Kaushal, Navin; Keith, NiCole R.
    INTRODUCTION: Vulnerable minorities experience high rates of chronic disease. Physical Activity (PA) is an effective preventive behavior to mitigate multiple diseases. Vulnerable minorities have low PA participation. Finding ways to engage PA in vulnerable minorities is imperative. PURPOSE: To describe the baseline data from a community-based wait-list pilot PA trial for vulnerable minorities. METHOD: Forty-five participants from a Midwest urban community were randomized to an experimental (EXP) or wait-list control (WLC) group. EXP participants were counseled to engage in regular PA (>4d/wk for >30 mins). EXP participants received a fitness center membership, trainer, and on-site monthly education to help them develop exercise identity and habit formation. The WLC group could engage in PA if desired but did not have the same research resources. Both groups completed monthly surveys assessing exercise identity, social support, and habit formation. Baseline data included one week of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and health-related fitness assessments (measured by accelerometry and fitness tests, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Data show baseline measures did not vary between groups. Moreover, our team experienced difficulties recruiting vulnerable minorities. Participant-stated barriers to participation in our study included: 1) Schedule (work, child’s school, etc.) and conflicting life demands; 2) Fear of getting ill or getting immediate family ill (COVID, flus, etc.); 3) Disruption of routine (e.g., children going on school break); 4) The limited hours of the fitness center; 5) Inflation & rising costs of goods (e.g., gasoline, food, etc.); and 6) Issues interacting with PARCS staff, lack of trust. Next steps include reporting final outcomes and developing refined recruitment methods.
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    Reducing Physical Activity Disparities Among Vulnerable Minorities: Methods and Preliminary Outcomes
    (2023) Alamilla, Rafael A.; Georgiadis, Yanoula M.; Kaushal, Navin; Keith, NiCole R.
    INTRODUCTION: Vulnerable minorities experience high rates of chronic disease. Physical Activity (PA) is an effective preventive behavior to mitigate multiple diseases. Vulnerable minorities have low PA participation. Finding ways to engage vulnerable minorities in PA is imperative. PURPOSE: To describe preliminary data from a community-based wait-list pilot PA trial for vulnerable minorities. METHODS: Forty-five participants from a Midwest urban community were randomized to an experimental (EXP: N = 23; 15 F) or control (CON: N = 22; 15 F) group. Baseline measures are height = 168.5 ± 9.1cm (EXP), and 167.9 ± 7.0cm (CON); weight = 95.8 ± 26.4kg (EXP) and 85.0 ± 19.3kg (CON), age = 39.9 ± 9.7y (EXP) and 48.8 ± 13.2y (CON). EXP participants were counseled to engage in regular PA (>4d/wk for >30 mins). EXP participants received a fitness center membership, trainer, and on-site monthly education to help them develop exercise identity and habit formation. The CON group could engage in PA if desired but did not have the same research resources. Both groups completed monthly surveys assessing exercise identity, social support, and habit formation. Baseline data included one week of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and health-related fitness (measured by accelerometry and fitness tests, respectively). RESULTS: Paired-samples T-test were used to make baseline comparisons. Study participants were 73.2% White, 67.4% employed full-time, 56.1% obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 32.0% earned >300% of the federal poverty level. MVPA was 127.9 ± 69.8 min/wk (EXP) and 174.7 ± 103.1 min/wk (CON). Other non-significant outcomes included body fat % (EXP: 37.1 ± 10.9%; CON: 32.9 ± 12.0%), 8ft-up-and-go time (EXP: 5.01 ± 0.8s; CON: 5.05 ± 1.10s), and 30s chair stand (EXP: 15.3 ± 6.5; CON: 17.5 ± 5.2), 30s seated arm curl (EXP: R =18.9 ± 5.1, L = 19.2 ± 5.1; CON: R = 21.2 ± 5.7, L = 20.1 ± 5.4). Chair sit-and-reach scores for right (EXP: -0.1 ± 8.3cm; CON: 1.0 ± 12.2cm, p = 0.003 ) and left (EXP: -0.3 ± 8.2cm; CON: 0.1 ± 11.4cm, p = 0.01) legs were different. CONCLUSION: Data show baseline measures did not vary between groups and difficulty recruiting vulnerable minorities. Next steps include reporting final outcomes and developing refined recruitment methods.