StrongPeople Strong Hearts app aims to reduce cardiovascular disease risk
Texas A&M AgriLife secures $1 million to develop digital intervention program
A Texas A&M AgriLife researcher has received a $1 million grant for his work on cardiovascular disease prevention from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA-NIFA.
Chad Rethorst, Ph.D., received the grant for the StrongPeople Strong Hearts digital intervention, a mobile app-based cardiovascular disease prevention program targeting women in Texas.
Rethorst is a faculty scientist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture, IHA, and associate professor at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas’ Healthy Living Program and in the Texas A&M Department of Nutrition.
Mission focused on community well-being
The IHA’s mission is to improve human health for all by leading science-driven solutions in agriculture, nutrition and food. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death among women in Texas.
“This grant empowers our team to work with Texas communities in leading-edge research,” Rethorst said. “With an overall program objective to reduce cardiovascular disease risk, this work aligns perfectly with the IHA’s efforts of lowering chronic disease rates for Texans and beyond.”
One of the ways the IHA accomplishes this critical work is through its Healthy Living research, which is social and behavioral research that promotes health, reduces chronic disease and advances health by developing, evaluating and disseminating community-engaged intervention programs.
A closer look at program details
In this program, Rethorst’s team will use a custom digital app to deliver nutrition and active living education to 240 women from Texas, aimed at reducing cardiovascular disease risk. Participants will receive a digital scale and activity tracker, which will collect data on nutrition, physical activity and other health outcomes immediately following the 12-week program and again three months after program completion.
This is the first intervention trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a digital StrongPeople Strong Hearts program in improving behavior and health outcomes, following pilot studies assessing the feasibility of app-based activation for the program originally conceptualized for in-person implementation.
If the digital program is found to be effective in improving cardiovascular health outcomes, Rethorst is hopeful for the potential for broader dissemination to help more Texans in the future.
A force for good in advancing human health
“Dr. Rethorst’s new grant is the latest example of how Texas A&M AgriLife Research is helping shape improvements in human health,” said Teresa Davis, Ph.D., director of the IHA. “As Texas A&M University and its units, including the IHA, stand together as a force for good, this research is poised to transform innovative research into significant impact benefiting Texans.”
Rethorst’s new work builds upon the IHA’s existing community-centered work connecting research with real-world impact to fight cardiovascular disease.
Rebecca Seguin-Fowler, Ph.D., associate director for Healthy Living at the IHA, was recently awarded a $2.1M grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for work targeting Texans’ heart health with her “Deep in the Heart” project that will use a combination of in-person and digital program delivery.
Both Rethorst’s and Seguin-Fowler’s projects use the StrongPeople Strong Hearts program that Seguin-Fowler created and tested in a series of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health.
