Evaluation of a culturally appropriate intervention to increase physical activity.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a culturally appropriate intervention to increase activity in overweight Mexican American women. METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to a physical activity program or wait-list control. RESULTS: Treated participants were not more active than controls at 6 or 12 months. In addition, we found no significant differences in the proportion of individuals who met an objective criterion for physical activity from baseline to 6 months in the treatment or control groups. CONCLUSION: The intervention did not increase physical activity in this population. Differences in baseline activity and contamination of the control group may partially account for the outcome.

Evaluation of the factor structure and psychometric characteristics of the General Well-Being Schedule (GWB) with Mexican American women.

The General Well-Being Schedule (GWB) is a brief, reliable, and valid measure of subjective well-being that is widely used in research as an indicator of psychological health and dysfunction. The GWB is hypothesized to have six subscales or dimensions (anxiety, depression, positive well-being, self-control, vitality, and general health), but previous research has not yielded a consistent factor structure. Little attention has been paid to the reliability and validity of the GWB with Mexican-Americans, the fastest growing minority group in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the GWB schedule with Mexican-American women involved in a community-based weight-loss study. Factor analysis indicated a four-factor solution. The GWB and the resulting factors demonstrated acceptable reliability and discriminability.