title: Assessing and promoting physical activity in African American barbershops: results of the FITStop pilot study.
abstract: This study assessed the feasibility of recruiting African American men in barbershops, assessing their physical activity, conducting physical measurements, and gauging their interest in barbershop-based health research. The authors recruited African American shop owners (n = 4), barbers (n = 6), and customers (n = 90) from four barbershops in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, during 2009. The participation levels were high among owners (100%), barbers (67%), and customers (81%). In addition to completing a self-administered survey, 57% (51/90) of the customers completed physical measurements. According to self-reported data, 34% (30/88) of the customers met national physical activity recommendations within the last week. Customers expressed moderately high interest in learning more about health at barbershops and joining a barbershop-based physical activity contest. The estimated recruiting cost per customer was $105.92. Barbershops offer an effective setting for recruiting African American men and conducting physical measurements as well as an interesting possible location for conducting future interventions.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. linnan@email.unc.edu
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Linnan
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Reiter
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duffy
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hales
authors.forename: Dianne S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Viera
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001461:Barbering; D003132:Commerce; D015444:Exercise; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055815:Young Adult