REACH Detroit Partnership
Preventing diabetes and diabetes complications in the African American and Hispanic communities in eastside and southwest Detroit.

Healthy Mothers on the Move (Healthy MOMs) / Madres Saludables en Movimiento (Madres Saludables)

Principle Investigator: Edie Kieffer, MPH, PhD
Pregnancy and the period after childbirth offer unique opportunities to reduce the risk of developing gestational diabetes (GDM) and type 2 diabetes and their severe consequences for mothers and their children. The aim of Healthy Mothers on the Move (Healthy MOMs) was to demonstrate the effectiveness of healthy lifestyle intervention tailored to the needs of pregnant and postpartum African American and Latino women, and designed to reduce risk factors for obesity, gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes. This REACH Detroit Partnership project was designed using community-based participatory research approaches, and conducted by trained community resident Women's Health Advocates (WHAs) during home visits and group meetings between 2003 and 2008.

Results to-date show that, as a result of the intervention, Healthy MOMs participants had reduced fat and sugar consumption and improved vegetable and fiber consumption. They also had significantly lower risk of depression. Other results are being studied.

All curricula and related materials such as activity guides, newsletters, recipes and exercise videos are in Spanish and English and will be available soon at reachdetroit.org.

Funding and related support: This work was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health: R18 DK062433; and P60DK020572 to the Biostatistics and Measurement Cores of the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center; and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (R40 MC00115-03).