RU: Hughes: Development of a Virtual Reality Weight Management Intervention for Women with Mobility Impairments
Project Description:
The prevalence of obesity in women with mobility impairments is nearly double that of women without disabilities, yet this significant health disparity has received little attention. Women who have difficulty walking or engaging in vigorous physical activity due to disabling conditions report critical health and environmental barriers to maintaining a healthy weight. Our goal is to develop and pilot test the first evidence-based weight management intervention for women with mobility impairments. This intervention will respond to the unique needs and expressed concerns of women with mobility impairments, build on prior weight management research conducted on adults in general, and be delivered using virtual reality on the Internet. Our first objective is to adapt a face-to-face evidence-based weight loss program for adults to an Internet-based virtual reality weight loss intervention that responds to the specific needs of women with mobility impairments. We will use community based participatory and multidisciplinary methods to develop a disability-responsive weight loss intervention grounded in social cognitive theory. In partnership with a community advisory board of women with mobility impairments, we will modify the Lifestyle Change Program curriculum from the Diabetes Prevention Program to make its diet and physical activity information responsive to the needs of women with mobility impairments. This disability-responsive version will be called GoWoman. The curriculum will then be formatted and uploaded to a dedicated website and to an island in Second Life (SL), which is a free 3-D virtual world. Our second objective is to pilot test the curriculum adapted in Objective 1 with 30 women with mobility impairments using a simple interrupted time series quasi-experimental design. After taking biometric measurements and administering the pretest, we will conduct the intervention, consisting of 16 weekly structured small group meetings in SL. At the end of the intervention, we will take biometric measurements and collect post-test quantitative and qualitative data. Our third objective is to disseminate the results of this project in the form of postings to our website for lay and professional audiences, publications in refereed journals, and podcasts and online illustrated lectures on approaches to weight management for women with mobility impairments. This study will result in a virtual reality weight management intervention with preliminary evidence of efficacy for women with mobility impairments, a significantly underserved health disparity population. The University of Montana (UM) Rural Institute has been invited to collaborate on this project by Baylor College of Medicine's Center for Research on Women with Disabilities. Dr. Rosemary Hughes is the project director for the UM site.
Keyword(s):
weight management mobility impairments virtual internet
Core Function(s):
Performing Research or Evaluation
Area of Emphasis
Health-Related Activities, Quality of Life
Target Audience:
Adults with Disabilities
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Geographic Areas, Reservation, Rural/Remote
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
National
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
