"Investigating the Effects of the GameDay Ready Behavioral Weight Management Program for Black Men Living in the Rural South"

GameDay Ready is a 12-week, group-based behavioral weight management program in which participants will meet in-person once per week at a publicly accessible walking track. The GameDay Ready program promotes increasing physical activity, reducing sedentary time, and improving dietary habits through education, behavioral self-monitoring, and goal setting. Each 60-minute intervention session includes a brief educational component followed by a group discussion of weekly progress. Following a short warmup walk, participants engage in group-based competitive physical activities and then a short cooldown walk. Participants then set individual and group-based goals for the upcoming week and discuss strategies for overcoming barriers to achieving goals. The program is sensitive to intersectional influences of gender, race, and rurality on health; and strategies to enhance motivation are threaded throughout the program.

Participants receiving the comparison program will complete a 12-week walking and general health education program. Group sessions meet once per week at a publicly accessible walking track, and each 60-minute session consists of a brief educational component on a health topic followed by walking and socializing during the remainder of the session.