@Article{info:doi/10.2196/21450,
author="Brewer, LaPrincess C
and Kumbamu, Ashok
and Smith, Christina
and Jenkins, Sarah
and Jones, Clarence
and Hayes, Sharonne N
and Burke, Lora
and Cooper, Lisa A
and Patten, Christi A",
title="A Cardiovascular Health and Wellness Mobile Health Intervention Among Church-Going African Americans: Formative Evaluation of the FAITH! App",
journal="JMIR Form Res",
year="2020",
month="Nov",
day="17",
volume="4",
number="11",
pages="e21450",
keywords="mobile health; eHealth; community-based participatory research; health promotion; African Americans; mobile phone",
abstract="Background: In light of the scarcity of culturally tailored mobile health (mHealth) lifestyle interventions for African Americans, we designed and pilot tested the Fostering African-American Improvement in Total Health (FAITH!) App in a community-based participatory research partnership with African American churches to promote cardiovascular health and wellness in this population. Objective: This report presents the results of a formative evaluation of the FAITH! App from participants in an intervention pilot study. Methods: We included 2 semistructured focus groups (n=4 and n=5) to explore participants' views on app functionality, utility, and satisfaction as well as its impact on healthy lifestyle change. Sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and qualitative data were analyzed by using general inductive analysis to generate themes. Results: In total, 6 overarching themes emerged among the 9 participants: overall impression, content usefulness, formatting, implementation, impact, and suggestions for improvement. Underpinning the themes was a high level of agreement that the intervention facilitated healthy behavioral change through cultural tailoring, multimedia education modules, and social networking. Suggestions for improvement were streamlining the app self-monitoring features, prompts to encourage app use, and personalization based on individuals' cardiovascular risk. Conclusions: This formative evaluation found that the FAITH! App had high reported satisfaction and impact on the health-promoting behaviors of African Americans, thereby improving their overall cardiovascular health. Further development and testing of the app among African Americans is warranted. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03084822; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03084822. ",
issn="2561-326X",
doi="10.2196/21450",
url="http://formative.jmir.org/2020/11/e21450/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/21450",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33200999"
}