FITShop: Promoting Physical Activity in Black Barbershops (FITShop)

Promoting Physical Activity in Black Barbershops

Physical activity has been proven to reduce the risk of cancer. The North Carolina FITShop research study will test the effectiveness of a program aimed at increasing physical activity among African American men. Approximately 14 barbershops and 560 shop customers within Orange, Durham, Chatham, Alamance, and Wake counties will be enrolled into this research study. If FITShop is effective, we will share our results throughout North Carolina and nationally.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Your Move (physical activity); Other: Your Money (financial empowerment)

Detailed Description

Black men suffer disproportionately higher rates of nearly all disease categories, including cancer --the leading cause of death in North Carolina. An estimated 50% of cancer is preventable with lifestyle modifications such as increasing physical activity (PA), eliminating tobacco use/exposure and maintaining a healthy weight. Evidence suggests that physical activity can reduce risk to several types of cancer. Innovative ways to reach Black men with effective health promotion interventions are needed. Barbershops represent one place where Black men can be reached, but have not been utilized as settings for intervening to promote physical activity. An experienced, interdisciplinary, partnership between community members (barbershop owners, barbers and their customers) and researchers from UNC Chapel Hill/Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and North Carolina Central University are conducting a two-phase outreach study to bridge this gap. Phase 1 is a series of inter-related formative research studies (in-depth interviews with barbers/owners; observations in shops; focus groups with customers) leading to the development of a theory and evidence-guided, multi-level physical activity intervention (FITShop) designed to increase PA among Black men in barbershops. Using Phase 1 results, Phase 2 is a two-arm, group randomized, initial efficacy trial of the FITShop intervention in 14 Black barbershops with 40 customers per shop (n=560 total). Customers in Arm 1 (7 shops, 280 customers) will receive the FITShop intervention which includes barber training, PA contest in the shop, use of pedometers, community connections and personal feedback plus recommendations for PA. Customers in Arm 2 (7 shops, 280 customers) will receive a Financial Empowerment (FE) attention-control intervention that mimics exposure amount without influencing the primary outcome. Consistent with community-based participatory research principles, an Advisory Board will guide all aspects of the study planning, development, implementation and analysis of results. The primary outcome (physical activity) will be measured via accelerometer using a 7-day protocol and with self-report questionnaires at baseline and 6 months using a previously tested protocol with Black men recruited from barbershops. All primary/secondary outcomes will be measured on all customers at an assessment event/via questionnaire prior to randomization (and at 6 mo) using standardized, previously tested protocols. Process evaluation will assess dose of intervention delivered, received, fidelity, as well as reach, adoption and representativeness at the customer, barber and barbershop levels. Since barbershops are located in all communities, if effective, this intervention has promise for dissemination & sustainability.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 628
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27599
      • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27707
      • North Carolina Central University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18+ years of age
• African American
• Male
• Regular customer of the barbershop

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Your Move (physical activity); The Your Move intervention is a multi-level, theory and evidence-based intervention that will include the following components: monthly handbills with community resources, newsletters, contests (shop and customer level), tailored health feedback report, and monthly phone calls from the research team.	Behavioral: Your Move (physical activity); Materials that are provided will aim to increase a participant's minutes of physical activity.
Other: Your Money (financial empowerment); The Your Money program is an attention control intervention. Owners and barbers will receive 3 workshops that focus on financial health. Customers will receive monthly handbills and newsletters about different financial health topics.	Other: Your Money (financial empowerment); Materials that are provided to participants will direct them to resources for financial health.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in physical activity measures	Minutes of physical activity will be self-reported along with physical activity status, self-efficacy, barriers, etc. Accelerometers will be given at baseline and the 6 month follow-up.	Baseline and 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in smoking status	Self-reported smoking status (y/n)	Baseline and 6 months
Change in weight/BMI	Participants weight will be measured at baseline and 6 months. Their BMI will be calculated	Baseline and 6 months
Change in waist circumference	Participant's waist circumference will be measured at baseline and 6 months.	Baseline and 6 months
Change in resting heart rate	Participant's resting heart rate will be measured at baseline and 6 months.	Baseline and 6 months
Change in blood pressure	Participant's blood pressure will be measured at baseline and 6 months.	Baseline and 6 months
Change in aerobic fitness level	Participant's aerobic fitness level will be measured using a step test at baseline and 6 months.	Baseline and 6 months
Change in psycho-social variables	Participant's will self-report psycho-social variables at baseline and 6 months.	Baseline and 6 months
Change in barber-customer interactions	Research team will conduct shop observations at baseline and 6 months.	Baseline and 6 months
Change in barbershop characteristics	Barbershop characteristics will be reported through environmental scans of the shop and informational interviews with the owners and barbers.	Baseline and 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Collaborators: North Carolina Central University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Laura A Linnan, ScD, CHES, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 1, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 2, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): October 3, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): June 16, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2015
• Last Verified: June 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: physical activity; exercise; cancer prevention; African American men; men's health; barbershop
• Other Study ID Numbers: 10-1903; 1U54CA156733 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)