Enlace

Project Summary:

The Enlace (“Connect”) research project is a promotora-led, community based intervention that considers the role of individual attitudes and skills, socio-cultural factors, and environmental influences on physical activity among Latinas in South Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley. Focusing on eight community resource centers in colonias in South Texas, this group-randomized controlled trial seeks to boost moderate to vigorous physical activity in study participants through culturally appropriate exercise sessions and social support. The goal of the project is to identify and remove or address barriers to physical activity (for instance, dominance of work and family responsibilities, lack of time, social isolation, lack of social support and/or personal motivation, access issues such as cost and lack of childcare and transportation, neighborhood safety, and other factors).

This National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded program uses a community-based, participatory research approach to identify and understand factors that influence moderate-intensity physical activity behavior Latinas in Richland and Lexington Counties, S.C., and Cameron and Hidalgo counties in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, a predominantly Latino region of Texas. Academic researchers will work with community members to conduct a community assessment that includes 12 focus groups and 26 interviews with key community leaders. Assessment results will be used to develop a program to promote physical activity that is tailored to meet the need of Latinas in these to geographically distinct areas of the country. The ENLACE intervention, based on the promotora model, will be pilot-tested in 120 women using an experimental research design. The primary outcome for the pilot study, measured at baseline and six months, is minutes-per-week of moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Key words: Latino/a, Hispanic, women, promotora, community outreach, physical activity, fitness, border, rural

Project Details:

Principal Investigator: Deborah Parra-Medina
Project title: ENLACE: A Promotora-Led Physical Activity Intervention Trial for Latinas in Texas (R01HL111718)
Funder: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Collaborators: Laura Esparza, Project Coordinator; Carisse Orsi, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, UT Health San Antonio; Yuanyuan Liang, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, UT Health San Antonio; David Akopian, UT San Antonio
Project period: 2012-2019
Location: Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas