March 27, 2002 - Associate Professor Feleta Wilson, PhD, RN and Assistant Professor May Dobal, PhD, RN have received a grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and Detroit Community Health Connection to study weight management at two Detroit clinics.

The research project - titled "An Intervention Study Using Patient Education and Decision Making for a Community-based Weight Management Program for the Medically Underserved" - entails establishing a weight and exercise program at the clinic locations.

"We want to reduce barriers, increase access and provide some patient education so (participants) will be informed about decisions affecting their weight management including both diet and exercise," said co-principal investigator Wilson.

"There will be exercise classes at the centers where they get their healthcare," said co-principal investigator Dobal. "We will have them see a nutritionist and provide support groups during the nine-month period they are participating in the study."

Detroit Community Health Connection has chosen two of its sites for the study: the Woodward Corridor Health Center, 611 Martin Luther King Boulevard and the Eastside Health Center, 7900 Kercheval Street. Participants in the study must be patients at one of the two clinics and have a body mass index greater than 30.

"It will be something very unique," said Mary Stephens Ferris, President and CEO of Detroit Community Health Center, a collaborating partner in the study. "I think it is a great service to the community and even a greater service for persons with low-income who would not have the resources to go to a gym or have access to a trainer."

"For low income urban dwellers there are a lot of barriers to weight management," said Dobal.

Among those barriers are lack of access to affordable fitness centers, alack of recreation facilities in the community, safety concerns regarding outdoor activity, limited availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, popular weight-loss programs may be cost prohibitive and even transportation problems can affect a regular fitness routine, said Wilson.

The one-year $149,374 study will begin in March.