An in-market feasibility test of a culturally appropriate and faith-based healthy eating program for African American women at risk for developing diabetes.
ROLE(s)
Prototype Developer + Co-Researcher
Service
Prototyping
Graphic Design
Pilot Development
Pilot Execution
Pilot Synthesis
Design Research
Workshop Facilitation
Interaction Testing
For
UnitedHealthcare + AARP
When
2015 - 2016
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Claim More is a social movement and healthy eating program that relishes what is special about African American women. It helps them be more accountable and more easily engage in lifestyle behaviors that reduce their risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases. Combining community, technology and nutrition support, Claim More empowers women to create healthy life-long habits around food while still enjoying the flavors of life.
Problem + Opportunity
The risk of diabetes is especially profound for African Americans, who are twice as likely to develop diabetes as Caucasians. Research has demonstrated the importance of culturally relevant programs and interventions as a means to improve health behaviors, educate regarding disease risk, and improve health outcomes. In particular, faith-based interventions for African Americans that involve the church have shown improvements in healthy eating, weight loss, and increased physical activity.
What we accomplished:
1.
Pilot Development
The pilot program was developed to determine if the utilization of the church setting, weekly classes, and daily text messages would be feasible with the intent of extending the program to other churches and ultimately other community groups in the area.
To test our hypothesis, we identified learning goals, participated in a cultural immersion experience and identified two local pastors in the greater Greensboro area to advocate for the program in their churches. The churches were selected because of their innovative ministry, focus on health-related issues, technology and staff resources, and age diversity. A Church Champion and a Lieutenant were then chosen from each congregation. The Champion was designated as the face of Claim More for her respective congregation and was responsible for managing the program for her church.
2.
Pilot Execution
We designed a high fidelity, low cost experience to simulate how the final service might look and feel to our audience. Using daily text messaging and weekly support groups, Claim More was designed to encourage a healthier lifestyle. Each week, we created just-in-time deliverables for each touchpoint to enable last-minute revisions based on feedback an learnings. A total of 30 women from two churches completed a 12-week, faith-based program using a community-based approach with lay health educators in the church setting.
To obtain a comprehensive perspective on how to expand future versions of this program, in-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted with 10 participants (five women from each church). Interviews focused on what made this program unique and effective and what might need to be adapted for a future expansion.
3.
Pilot Recommendation
To obtain a comprehensive perspective on how to expand future versions of this program, in-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted with 10 participants (five women from each church) throughout the experiment and at the end. Interviews focused on what made this program unique and effective and what might need to be adapted for a future expansion.
In addition to the feasibility test, we conducted working sessions to explore potential business models (viability) as an input to future recommendations. A final report was created with recommended pathways for each stakeholder and submission of the experiment to published research was completed.
