Shape-Up Sister

Shape-Up Sister was an internet-based online healthy lifestyle programme for black women. It was developed over the course of a three year project, working with African and Caribbean groups to culturally tailor an existing weight management programme. Shape-Up Sister aimed to help reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers by promoting weight loss, healthy eating and physical activity. It was a behavioural approach to managing eating and physical activity that gave women the skills and knowledge to live a healthy lifestyle for a lifetime. Shape-Up Sister included culturally appropriate language and images, and used food examples and cooking techniques that were relevant to the population.

Shape-Up Sister was evaluated in a research study involving 192 black British women. Overweight women were recruited between 2008-2009, via London workplaces. All participants were given access to the website, sent weekly email newsletters, and were invited to three-monthly support group meetings over the course of a year. Baseline measures included anthropometry, physical activity, biological markers and psychosocial variables. Measures were repeated at 3 months, 6 month and 12 months and data collection has now been completed. 

The project was funded by a grant from the National Prevention Research Initiative to Professor Andrew Steptoe. 

Principal Investigator: Professor Andrew Steptoe

Contact: Professor Andrew Steptoe (a.steptoe[at]ucl.ac.uk)

Collaborators: Weight Concern