Preliminary findings related to change in diet and physical activities among SHE Tribe participants

Purpose: SHE (She's Healthy and Empowered) Tribe is a community-based intervention designed to improve health and wellbeing of women by encouraging small lifestyle changes. Led by a trained peer leader, this is a 5-week program where participants talk about topics such as goal setting, self-care, movement, nutrition, and social support. During each session, participants are encouraged to set goals, do tasks needed to achieve their goals, and reflect on their process. SHE Tribe participants are also encouraged to adopt health behavior tracking practices. The purpose of this study is to explore adoption of diet and physical activities related practices including tracking among SHE Tribe participants. Methods: SHE Tribe participants complete face-to-face and online assessments during enrollment and exit which takes place upon completion of the 5 sessions. The questions included in the assessments range from general health, diet, physical activity, tracking behaviors, stress management, sleep patterns, social support, etc. Results: Preliminary analysis of pre and post data showed that the diet quality improved among participants along with improvement in the number of participants meeting recommended levels of physical activity. We also found an increase in the mean number of both physical activity and diet-related tracking behaviors. Conclusions: Our preliminary findings showed a positive change in overall diet and physical activities among SHE Tribe participants. We also found an increase in tracking behaviors which may reinforce positive lifestyle changes. These promising findings warrant further testing of the SHE Tribe model.