Principal Investigator
Carolyn M. Tucker, PhD

Co-Investigators
Pastor Kevin W. Thorpe, Kendall Campbell, M.D., Bridgett Rahim-Williams, Ph.D.

Funding Source
A Grant from the Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida

The overall goals of the Health-Smart Church Program are to (a) promote the consumption of raw vegetables and vegetables prepared in a healthy manner and (b) encourage engagement in other nationally-recommended health promoting behaviors (which Dr. Tucker calls "health-smart" behaviors). Primary program participants are African American women who have high blood pressure (hypertension), are in danger of developing hypertension, and/or are overweight or obese. A family member of each participating woman also is taking part in the Program, but it is not necessary for this family member to have hypertension or pre-hypertension, or to be overweight or obese.

The specific aims of the Health-Smart Church Program are to (a) establish 16 Health-Smart Church Centers in several African American communities in Gainesville, Florida; (b) train pastors and church leaders at each participating Health-Smart Church Center to be Health Empowerment Coaches; (c) increase engagement in health-smart behaviors by participating pastors, church leaders, and African American women and their family members; (d) encourage participating African American women and their family members to eat more vegetables that are raw or prepared in a healthy manner (e.g., steamed rather than boiled or fried, contain little or no added salt); and (e) through the implementation of physical- and psychological health workshops, reduce barriers that hinder participating women and their family members from eating vegetables that are raw or prepared in a healthy manner and engaging in other health-smart behaviors. The program consists of the following sequential components: (1) an intervention workshop, (2) regular physical activities coupled with health empowerment coaching, (3) a Healthy Vegetable Cook-Off, (4) stipends given to some primary participants to buy more vegetables, and (5) program institutionalization.

Specific outcome goals of the Health-Smart Church Program are to improve participants; blood pressure, body mass index (a method of determining if someone is overweight or obese using height and weight measurements), and cholesterol levels through the implementation of health self-empowerment-based interventions. The ultimate goal of the Health-Smart Church Program, however, is to reduce the incidence of obesity and hypertension (both of which disproportionately affect African Americans).