“A lifestyle intervention study targeting individuals with low socioeconomic status of different ethnic origins: needs of the target group and research demands”

Keywords: lifestyle intervention, low socioeconomic status, ethnic minorities

This dissertation focusses on the effects of adapted lifestyle interventions in individuals with low socioeconomic status and ethnic minorities. These individuals are often regarded as ‘difficult to reach’ in terms of participation in studies and lifestyle interventions. In order to tailor the Dutch lifestyle intervention named SLIM (Study of Lifestyle intervention and Impaired glucose tolerance Maastricht) to the needs of this target group, the intervention and the study design were adapted. For instance, the lifestyle intervention included a lot of group activities and was offered to the participants in the neighbourhood they lived in. Two hundred and twenty people with increased waist circumference participated in the study. The lifestyle intervention proved to be effective in terms of reducing waist circumference, weight and cholesterol levels, among other things. It also improved the participants’ quality of life.

This study was funded by LekkerLangLeven (a cooperation between the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation and the Dutch Kidney Foundation).