The Okla Achokma Project

Deep South Native Americans disparately suffer from diabetes, hypertension, and obesity with only 5-10% of Native Americans living past age 65 compared to 15-17% of Whites. Standard lifestyle interventions to improve diet and physical activity behaviors have shown improvement in weight and other cardiometabolic outcomes among Native Americans. The impact of lifestyle interventions on preventable chronic diseases among Native Americans is limited by the exclusion of a multi-level approach with cultural and social enhancements that address the spiritual and social domains of physical health. Therefore, there is an urgent need to determine how spiritual and social domains of health at individual and family levels may advance lifestyle management interventions.