PILI 'Ohana Project: Partnerships to Overcome Obesity Disparities in Hawaii (3-Year Pilot)

The long term mission of the PILI 'Ohana Program is to integrate community wisdom and expertise with scientific methods to conduct research on health disparities with a specific emphasis on obesity in NHs and PPs. Recognizing that recent advances in medicine such as the reduction of cardiovascular disease mortality and the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus, have not translated into benefits for all sectors of the U.S. population, especially ethnic and racial minority populations, the PILI 'Ohana Program aims to address this gap through community-academic partnerships focused on interventions to promote change in obesity-related disparities in NH and PP communities. One of the scientific goals of the PILI 'Ohana Program focused on designing and implementing research activities aimed at completing a pilot intervention study to provide the basis for a more definitive, hypothesis-driven 5-year research study in the future.

Inclusion criteria

• Native Hawaiian, Filipino or other Pacific Islander ethnic background;
• Age 18 years or older;
• Overweight or Obese defined as BMI > 25 kg/m2 (NH or Pacific Islanders) or > 23 kg/m2 (Filipino ethnic background);
• Willing and able to follow a behavioral weight loss intervention program that could potentially include 150 minutes of brisk walking per week (or equivalent) and a dietary regimen designed to induce weight loss of ~1-2 lbs per week;
• Able to identify at least 2-3 family, friends or co-workers that would be willing to support the participant during the course of the study.

Exclusion criteria

• Survival less than 6 months;
• Planning to move out of the community during the intervention study period (16 months);
• Pregnancy;
• Any dietary or exercise restrictions that would prevent an individual from fully participating in the intervention protocol (i.e. end stage renal disease on a renal diet, etc.);
• Any co-morbid condition (physical and mental disabilities) that would prevent the individual from participating in the intervention protocol (i.e. severe arthritis, hemi-paresis, major psychiatric illness, eating disorders, etc.).