From the Editor-in-Chief . . .
Participation in moderate physical activity (exercise) has
been estimated around 20-25% of adults for decades with little improvement. The
association between lack of physical activity and chronic diseases is well
known; however, most individuals chose to remain relatively sedentary. It is
also known that level of physical inactivity is different across
race/ethnicity. African Americans (AA) have demonstrated very low levels of
physical activity and suffer higher chronic disease compared to other
race/ethnicities. Participation in physical activity programs have barriers
such as cost, time, transportation, poor neighborhood surroundings, and others.
Use of remotely delivered programs via the internet show promise to diminish
these barriers for many health parameters, including physical activity.
Cultural tailoring is a method of adopting successful programs to specific
race/ethnicities to increase the uptake of programs and thereby conferring the
health benefits of such programs. Kariuki and colleagues describe their efforts
to identify tailoring strategies to engage overweight AA to participate in
physical activity using qualitative focus group methodology. Tailoring the
physical activity program to the perceived needs of the participants provides a
“precision health” approach that may increase participation and in turn provide
a population impact on components of health affected by inactivity.
**Notice/Abstract Submission- please see authors can now
indicate their research as translational. Furthermore, notice the translational
research abstract competition under Travel Awards.
Joseph E. Donnelly, EdD, FACSM
