Evaluating the Fade to Fitness Program: a Barbershop-based Program for Black Men

Developing a Community-Informed, Peer-to-Peer Intervention to Improve Health-Related Quality of Life Among African American Men

The Fade to Fitness Program is a targeted intervention designed to improve the holistic health and quality of life among Black men. This comprehensive initiative focuses on four key health behaviors: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Stress Management, and Depression Management.

It is grounded in psychological and social theories like Self-Determination Theory, Motivational Interviewing, and Social Cognitive Theory. The program emphasizes the importance of making informed choices, feeling competent and connected, and learning through observation and modeling. Facilitators play a pivotal role, leading group discussions, providing support, and fostering an inclusive atmosphere.

The program is structured into weekly sessions that tackle each health behavior, interspersed with off weeks; for community engagement, especially in barbershops, to discuss health topics and promote a healthier lifestyle.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Health Related Quality of Life
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The Fade to Fitness Program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 15
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Guillermo M Wippold, PhD; Phone Number: 803-216-1051; Email: wippold@mailbox.sc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • South Carolina
    • Columbia, South Carolina, United States, 29208
      • Recruiting
      • University of South Carolina
      • Contact: Guillermo M Wippold, PhD; Phone Number: 803-216-1051; Email: wippold@mailbox.sc.edu
      • Contact: Guillermo M Wippold, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Self-identify as African American or Black American male - 18 - 90 years of age
• Able to speak and understand English

Exclusion Criteria:

• Currently participating in another health promotion intervention
• On a special diet for a serious health condition
• Intending to move within 6 months of participating in the intervention

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: The Fade to Fitness Program

Behavioral: The Fade to Fitness Program; The Fade to Fitness Program is a group-based and barbershop-based behavioral intervention to improve health-related quality of life among African American men. The program is unique because it is culturally targeted and individually tailored. The culturally targeted content was developed following barbershop-based focus groups. The Fade to Fitness Program targets four behaviors strongly linked to health-related quality of life among African American men - physical activity, healthy eating, stress management, and depression management. During the group-based portion of the program, Motivational Interviewing is used by the facilitator as a conversational approach to enhance participants' motivation and commitment towards positive behavior change. The goal is to foster intrinsic motivation among participants to engage in these behaviors. It is individually tailored by encouraging participants to identify personal values and linking them to health promoting behaviors.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of men who are eligible/eligible.	An excel sheet will be used to track the number of men who express interest in the study and are eligible/ineligible.	Up to 1 week
Length of time needed to enroll 15 men	An excel sheet will be used to track length of time needed to enroll 15 men.	Up to 1 week
Facilitator-assessed attendance in intervention	An excel sheet will be used to track each participant's attendance. Participants attendance will be entered as 1 (attended) or 0 (did not attend).	Up to 1 week
Number of men who express interest in the study		Up to 1 week
Attrition in intervention	The excel sheet used to assess attendance will be used to assess attrition.	Baseline to 5 months
Acceptability, appropriateness, demand, implementation, practicality, and integration of the intervention	Qualitative data will be collected based on guidelines created by research funded by the National Cancer Institute to understand the feasibility of health promotion interventions among underserved populations. The interview questions will assess the acceptability (e.g., satisfaction, perceived appropriateness, fit with cultural structure), demand (e.g., intent to use, actual use, expressed interest or intention to use), implementation (e.g., degree of execution), practicality (e.g., amount of time needed, quality of implementation, ability to carry out intervention activities), and integration (e.g., perceived sustainability) of the intervention.	2 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in weight		Change from baseline to 5 months
Change in body mass index		Change from baseline to 5 months
Change in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity	Average minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity measured over 5 consecutive days using an accelerometer	Baseline to 5 months
Global Health - Mental 2a	2-item measure of mental health; range: 2 - 10 with higher scores indicating better mental health.	Baseline to 5 months
Global Health - Physical 2a	2-item measure of physical health; range: 2 - 10 with higher scores indicating better physical health.	Baseline to 5 months
Perceived Stress Scale	10-item measure of perceived stress; range: 0 - 40 with higher scores indicating more perceived stress.	Baseline to 5 months
Emotional Distress - Depression - Short Form 4a	4-item measure of depression; range: 4 - 20 with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms.	Baseline to 5 months
Healthy Eating Subscale of the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II	9-item measure of healthy eating; range: 9 - 36 with higher scores indicating greater engagement in healthy eating.	Baseline to 5 months
Instrumental Support- Short Form 4a	4-item measure of instrumental support; range: 4 - 20 with higher scores indicating more instrumental support.	Baseline to 5 months
Informational Support - Short Form 4a	4-item measure of informational support; range: 4 - 20 with higher scores indicating more informational support.	Baseline to 5 months
Emotional Support - Short Form 4a	4-item measure of emotional support; range: 4 - 20 with higher scores indicating more emotional support.	Baseline to 5 months
Companionship - Short Form 4a	4-item measure of companionship; range: 4 - 20 with higher scores indicating more companionship.	Baseline to 5 months
Motivation and Attitudes Towards Changing Health (MATCH)	9-item measure of health motivation; range: 9 - 45 with higher scores indicating greater health motivation.	Baseline to 5 months
NIH Self-Efficacy Measure	10-item measure of health self-efficacy; range: 10 - 50 with higher scores indicating greater health self-efficacy.	Baseline to 5 months
Subjective Social Norms of Health Behavior	4-item measure using a researcher-developed subjective social norms measure to engage in health behaviors; range: 4 - 28 with higher scores indicating fewer social norms to engage in health behaviors.	Baseline to 5 months
Valuing Questionnaire	10-item measure to assess values-based behavior; range: 0 - 60 with higher scores indicating more values-based behaviors.	Baseline to 5 months
Diet	Measure using the Dietary Screener Questionnaire (variable length). This measure assess amount of dietary intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber, added sugars, calcium, dairy, and whole grains. A higher response indicates more intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber, added sugars, calcium, dairy, and whole grains.	Baseline to 5 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of South Carolina
• Collaborators: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Guillermo M Wippold, University of South Carolina

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 6, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 14, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 16, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 14, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00133917; K23MD016123 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Data can be shared upon reasonable request.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No