Disseminating a Successful Dietary Intervention to Faith Communities: Feasibility of Using Staff Contact and Encouragement to Increase Uptake

ObjectiveTo test the feasibility of a dissemination strategy to increase faith communities' (FCs) adoption and implementation of a tested dietary intervention.DesignThe study was a randomized, controlled trial that took place over a 9-month period.SettingSeattle, Washington, metropolitan area.ParticipantsSeven FCs assigned to an intervention group and five to a comparison group.InterventionAll FCs received intervention materials, monetary support, and a Healthy Eating Coordinator (HEC), who was available to answer questions or provide assistance. Intervention FCs additionally received monthly contact from the HEC.Main Outcome MeasureThe main outcome measure was the number of intervention activities the FCs reported over the intervention period.AnalysisThe authors performed descriptive analyses and compared median number of activities performed by intervention and control FCs with Wilcoxon rank-sum tests.ResultsIntervention FCs implemented a median of 3 intervention activities, whereas control FCs implemented a median of 0 intervention activities (P = .05).Conclusions and ImplicationsThese findings indicate that regular contact from HECs is a feasible dissemination strategy for FCs. Further research is needed to determine how to improve the effectiveness of this contact.