Madres Para la Salud (Mothers for Health)

Project Summary The purpose of "Madres para la Salud" (Mothers for Health) was to explore the effectiveness of a culturally specific intervention using walking "bouts" to affect changes in the health of Hispanic women following childbirth. The project will advance our understanding of the relationship between moderate increases in physical activity and consequent body fat loss and decreased postpartum depression symptoms in sedentary Hispanic women during the postpartum period. This was accomplished by having a group of women who participated in supportive information and walking sessions, both alone and with study personnel, and an attention control group who received monthly phone calls to address common postpartum health concerns, but who did not participate in the walking program. Both groups received weekly health-focused newsletters with no content related to the intervention. The women had a random assignment to a group. Study Aims The purpose of this social support intervention program was to test the theory-driven Madres para la Salud with Hispanic women by conducting a formative evaluation of the intervention: Aim 1: Examine the effectiveness of the Madres para la Salud, a theoretically driven social support intervention for reducing the distal outcomes in: (a) body fat; (b) systemic and fat tissue inflammation; and (c) PPD symptoms among postpartum Hispanic women compared with an attention control group, at 6 and 12 months, after controlling for dietary intake. Aim2: Test whether the theoretical mediators, intermediate outcomes, of social support and walking, and environmental factor moderators, affect changes in body fat; systemic and fat tissue inflammation; and PPD symptoms among postpartum Hispanic women completing the Madres para la Salud intervention compared with an attention control group, at 6 and 12 months, after controlling for dietary intake. Aim 3: Determine the relationship between the immediate outcome of walking (minutes walked per week) and change in the distal outcomes of: (a) body fat; (b) systemic and fat tissue inflammation; and (c) PPD symptoms.