Examining the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Six-week At-home Strength Training Intervention for Black Women

Step 1- Formative Focus Groups: Prior to recruitment of participants, three focus groups with five to eight members of the target population per group will be conducted to accomplish the following: 1) Review intervention materials such as exercise session content, motivational construct activities, and counseling session topics, and 2) assess any barriers and facilitators within their environments that should be accounted for in the methodology of the study, and 3) to explore how racism impacts their lives and how their ability to engage in physical activity. A trained consultant will ask questions regarding length of workouts, frequency of messaging on WhatsApp, whether video calls between participants and the PI would be helpful, and what type of messaging and video content the participants may like to see, in accordance with similar literature in the field (Joseph et al., 2017). Formative research participants will be paid $20 for their time. After the focus groups conclude, the PI and another researcher will conduct inductive hierarchical content analysis to incorporate results into the intervention structure and design. Audio and/or video recordings will be taken in order to accurately analyze themes and adjust the protocol based on answers from the focus groups. The protocol of the intervention will be adjusted with results from the formative focus groups after receiving relevant input.

Step 2- Telephone Screening, Consent, and Baseline Questionnaires: In response to advertisement and outreach efforts, potential participants will call, email, or text the Student Investigator (SI), at which time they will complete a telephone screening interview with the SI to determine eligibility for the study. Participants who are eligible will be given detailed information about the study and the consent form will be reviewed. The SI will schedule a randomization appointment in two weeks. Participants will be told that they may need to cancel the appointment if the online consent and questionnaires are not completed.

a) Complete telephone screening

1. If not eligible, end interview and thank them for their time
2. If eligible:

i. Schedule randomization appointment for 2 weeks ii. Email link to consent form and questionnaires iii. Explain ActiGraph procedures. The Actigraph is a small device that is attached to the participant's clothing/belt at the waist and measures physical activity amount and intensity. The Actigraph functions as a method of measuring physical activity with the purpose of obtaining objective measurement of the participants' physical activity.