title: House Chats as a Grassroots Engagement Methodology in Community-Based Participatory Research: The WE Project, Petersburg.
abstract: The Wellness Engagement (WE) Project is an academic-community partnership developed to engage the community to inform the development of a pilot intervention aimed at promoting healthy eating and physical activity among residents of Petersburg, Virginia.
  
  
  
  To implement House Chats as a novel methodology for engaging community members in focused discussion about obesity, exercise, dietary intake, and barriers to health.
  
  
  
  We recruited and trained laypersons as House Chat Leaders (HCLs) to host informal group discussions about obesity with members of their network in a social setting following predetermined questions.
  
  
  
  HCLs hosted 34 House Chats with 176 participants over a period of 4 months.
  
  
  
  The House Chat proved to be a highly successful engagement strategy that allowed access to respondents who may not have participated in a traditional, focus group discussion.
authors.forename: Maghboeba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mosavel
authors.forename: Dwala
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferrell
authors.forename: Jessica Gokee
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: LaRose
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D014768:Virginia