Using comparative effectiveness research to inform the design of a physical activity intervention for African American and Latino youth: Experiences of a community based participatory research partnership

The Detroit Community Academic Urban Research Center's Healthy Environments Partnership addresses racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities in cardiovascular health. Community members and partners have identified the need for physical activity interventions for youth in the community. A Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) approach was used to conduct a systematic review of physical activity interventions to identify characteristics of effective interventions (e.g. setting, number of sessions, group characteristics) and their impact on youth physical activity outcomes over time. We used a combined CER/CBPR approach to identify elements of effective physical activity interventions for African American and Latino youth aimed to eliminate health disparities. A meta-analysis was completed to identify characteristics of interventions associated with improvements in physical activity related outcomes in African American and Latino youth 8-18 years of age. A systematic approach was used to screen and extract study data. 5,195 journal articles were reviewed and 38were identified for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Interventions were found to be more likely to target elementary-school aged youth. No significant differences in intervention design by race/ethnicity were found. A significant increase in physical activity over time was more likely to be found in interventions focused on one gender compared to those involving both genders. CER contributes to the identification and synthesis of effective intervention strategies to inform the design of interventions within the context of CBPR. The use of CER takes into account the socio-ecological environment and may increase the likelihood for design of effective interventions to address physical activity and health inequalities.