title: Baseline results from Hawaii's Nā Mikimiki Project: a physical activity intervention tailored to multiethnic postpartum women.
abstract: During the postpartum period, ethnic minority women have higher rates of inactivity/under-activity than white women. The Nā Mikimiki ("the active ones") Project is designed to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over 18 months among multiethnic women with infants 2-12 months old. The study was designed to test, via a randomized controlled trial, the effectiveness of a tailored telephone counseling of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity intervention compared to a print/website materials-only condition. Healthy, underactive women (mean age = 32 ± 5.6 years) with a baby (mean age = 5.7 ± 2.8 months) were enrolled from 2008-2009 (N = 278). Of the total sample, 84% were ethnic minority women, predominantly Asian-American and Native Hawaiian. Mean self-reported baseline level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was 40 minutes/week with no significant differences by study condition, ethnicity, infant's age, maternal body mass index, or maternal employment. Women had high scores on perceived benefits, self-efficacy, and environmental support for exercise but low scores on social support for exercise. This multiethnic sample's demographic and psychosocial characteristics and their perceived barriers to exercise were comparable to previous physical activity studies conducted largely with white postpartum women. The Nā Mikimiki Project's innovative tailored technology-based intervention and unique population are significant contributions to the literature on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in postpartum women.
authors.affiliation: University of Hawaii Cancer Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. cherylal@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Albright
authors.forename: Alana D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Steffen
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Novotny
authors.forename: Claudio R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Nigg
authors.forename: Lynne R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Wilkens
authors.forename: Kara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saiki
authors.forename: Paulette
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Brooke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hedemark
authors.forename: Jason E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maddock
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Wendy J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006254:Hawaii; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D009043:Motor Activity; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D055815:Young Adult