title: A pilot walking program for Mexican-American women living in colonias at the border.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the effectiveness of ¡Vamos a Caminar! (Let's Walk!), an intervention for Mexican-American women living in economically disadvantaged, poorly urbanized areas in the South Texas border region.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a nonexperimental, one-group, pretest and posttest intervention with a duration of 12 weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  The intervention was conducted in Hidalgo County, Texas, 1 of the 10 poorest counties in the United States, located at the border with Mexico. Participants resided in areas known as colonias, which are unincorporated and impoverished settlements along the border where many people live in trailers or self-built houses and lack basic services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spanish-speaking Mexican-American women (n  =  16) 18 years of age and older.
  
  
  METHODS
  The program was home-based, culturally sensitive, theoretically driven, and facilitated by community health workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Changes in walking levels, depressive symptoms, and stress levels were assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A majority of participants were unemployed, had low levels of education, were born in Mexico, and were obese. After exposure to the program, the participants reported a significant increase in walking (915.8 metabolic equivalent min/wk; p  =  .002) and lower depressive symptoms (p  =  .055) and stress level scores (p  =  .017).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Culturally sensitive programs promoting walking in underserved, minority populations are promising in reducing physical activity disparities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, South Texas Center, Texas A&M Health Science Center, McAllen, Texas 78572, USA. nmier@tamhsc.edu
authors.forename: Nelda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mier
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tanguma
authors.forename: Ann V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Millard
authors.forename: Edna K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Villarreal
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alen
authors.forename: Marcia G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ory
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013781:Texas; D016138:Walking; D055815:Young Adult