Tailoring a fruit and vegetable intervention on ethnic identity: results of a randomized study.
OBJECTIVE
Many targeted interventions have been developed and tested with African Americans (AA); however, AAs are a highly heterogeneous group. One characteristic that varies across AAs is Ethnic Identity (EI). Little research has been conducted on how to incorporate EI into the design of health messages and programs.


METHODS
We tested whether tailoring a print-based fruit and vegetable (F & V) intervention on EI would enhance program impact. AA adults were recruited from two integrated healthcare delivery systems and then randomized to receive three newsletters focused on F & V behavior change over three months. One set of newsletters was tailored only on demographic and social cognitive variables (control condition), whereas the other (experimental condition) was additionally tailored on EI.


METHODS
The primary outcome for the study was F & V intake, assessed at baseline and three months later using the composite of two brief self-report frequency measures.


RESULTS
A total of 560 eligible participants were enrolled, of which 468 provided complete 3-month follow-up data. The experimental group increased their daily mean F & V intake by 1.1 servings compared to .8 servings in the control group (p = .13). Afrocentric experimental group participants showed a 1.4 increase in F & V servings per day compared to a .43 servings per day increase among Afrocentric controls (p < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Although the overall between-group effects were not significant, tailoring dietary messages on ethnic identity may improve intervention impact for some AA subgroups.
Resnicow
Ken
K
University of Michigan.
Davis
Rachel
R
Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan.
Zhang
Nanhua
N
Biostatistics, University of Michigan.
Strecher
Victor
V
University of Michigan.
Tolsma
Dennis
D
0000-0002-0685-0618
Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, Center for Health Research/Southeast.
Calvi
Josephine
J
Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, Center for Health Research/Southeast.
Alexander
Gwen
G
Henry Ford Hospital.
Anderson
Julia P
JP
Group Health, Center for Health Studies.
Wiese
Cheryl
C
Group Health, Center for Health Studies.
Cross
William E
WE
Department of Psychology, City University of New York.
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology*; D000368:Aged; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D054521:Cultural Competency; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006266:Health Education / Q000941:ethics; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D018579:Patient Selection; D012933:Social Identification; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult