Academic partnerships and key leaders emerging from communities in the lower Mississippi Delta (LMD): a community-based participatory research model.

Collaboratively, the nutritional health problems of the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) region were examined and opportunities identified for conducting research interventions. To combat the nutritional health problems in the LMD, community residents yielded to a more comprehensive and participatory approach known as community-based participatory research (CBPR). Community residents partnered with academic researchers and other organizational entities to improve the overall quality of diet and health in their respective communities using CBPR.

Capacity building for health through community-based participatory nutrition intervention research in rural communities.

Since its inception, capacity building has been a stated goal of the Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative, a tri-state collaboration in the Lower Mississippi Delta to address high rates of chronic disease. Textual analysis of project documents identifies and describes strategies carried out to foster capacity building. Strategies to build community capacity include fostering participation, cultivating leadership opportunities, training community members as co-researchers, securing community resources, and implementing the intervention together.

Compliance and acceptability of maintaining a 6-month pedometer diary in a rural, African American community-based walking intervention.

Background: Limited research has been done on the compliance and acceptability of maintaining pedometer diaries for an extensive time frame in community-based interventions targeting minority populations.

Methods: Community "coaches" led participants in a 6-month community-based walking intervention that included wearing pedometers and maintaining pedometer diaries for the study duration. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA tests were used to evaluate compliance rates for maintaining diaries and daily step counts.

Participatory development and implementation of a community research workshop: experiences from a community-based participatory research partnership.

Background: Although community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles stress the importance of "equitable partnerships" and an "empowering and power-sharing process that attends to social inequalities," descriptions of actual projects often focus on the challenges confronted in academic-community partnerships. These challenges occur in the context of economic and power inequities and the frequently limited diversity of researchers. Less often does this discourse attend to the link between the principles of CBPR and their empowering potential for community members who internalize and use these principles to hold outside partners accountable to these ideals.

Perceptions of factors influencing healthful food consumption behavior in the Lower Mississippi Delta: focus group findings.

Objective: To identify perceptions of Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) residents regarding factors that influence a change in healthful food consumption behavior to assist in planning sustainable nutrition interventions in the LMD.

Design: Nine focus groups were conducted with LMD residents in 9 counties in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. One focus group was held in each county on the topical area of behavioral change.

Fit for life steps: results of a community walking intervention in the rural Mississippi delta.

Background: A collaborative community--university--U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA)/Agricultural Research Service (ARS) partnership developed and implemented a 6-month walking intervention whereby volunteer coaches were trained to lead community walking groups in a rural Mississippi Delta Community.