Griffith Derek M, Allen Julie Ober, Johnson-Lawrence Vicki, Langford Aisha
1Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2014 Apr;41(2):164-72. doi: 10.1177/1090198113496788. Epub 2013 Aug 4.
Despite the important contribution increasing physical activity levels may play in reducing chronic disease morbidity and mortality, there is a paucity of interventions and research indicating how to improve physical activity levels in African American men. Men on the Move was a pilot study to increase African American men's levels of physical activity by improving access to age and ability-appropriate, male-focused physical activity opportunities and facilitating access to social support from male peers. Forty-one African American men ages 35 to 70 enrolled (mean age = 53.8). Groups of 5 to 10 men met once a week with a certified personal trainer for 10 weeks. Each meeting addressed barriers to physical activity, provided men with community resources, and incorporated activities that promoted flexibility, strength, balance, and conditioning. Improvements (p < .05) were detected for the following outcome measures: perceived self-efficacy to sustain physical activity, endurance, overall health status, and stress level. Physiological and fitness outcome measures improved, although not to significant levels. Whereas 40% of the men met the recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity weekly at baseline, 68% of the men met this recommendation by the end of the project. These positive results attest to the feasibility of successfully engaging middle-aged and older African American men in a physical activity intervention, and our findings demonstrate the initial efficacy of this intervention approach. More research is needed that includes a more intensive intervention and one that helps motivate men to be physically active outside of the structured, small-group sessions.
尽管增加身体活动水平在降低慢性病发病率和死亡率方面可能发挥重要作用，但针对如何提高非裔美国男性身体活动水平的干预措施和研究却很匮乏。“行动起来的男性”是一项试点研究，旨在通过增加获得适合年龄和能力、以男性为重点的身体活动机会，并促进获得男性同伴的社会支持，来提高非裔美国男性的身体活动水平。41名年龄在35至70岁之间的非裔美国男性参与了研究（平均年龄=53.8岁）。5至10人的小组每周与一名认证私人教练会面一次，为期10周。每次会面都讨论了身体活动的障碍，为男性提供社区资源，并纳入了促进灵活性、力量、平衡和体能的活动。在以下结果指标中检测到了改善（p<0.05）：维持身体活动的自我效能感、耐力、整体健康状况和压力水平。生理和体能结果指标有所改善，尽管未达到显著水平。在基线时，40%的男性达到了每周150分钟中等强度或剧烈身体活动的建议，到项目结束时，68%的男性达到了这一建议。这些积极结果证明了成功让中年及老年非裔美国男性参与身体活动干预的可行性，我们的研究结果也证明了这种干预方法的初步有效性。需要更多的研究，包括更强化的干预措施，以及有助于激励男性在结构化的小组课程之外积极进行体育锻炼的研究。
