Changes in Dietary Behavior, Physical Activity, and Mental Health During a Lifestyle-Based Wellness Program for Women...

Women re-entering the community after incarceration experience substantial chronic disease and mental health burdens. Evidence regarding lifestyle medicine programming in transitional housing settings remains limited. This study evaluated changes in dietary behavior, physical activity, and mental health symptoms during a wellness program.

This single-arm, uncontrolled pre-post program evaluation retrospectively analyzed existing survey data from 17 women residing at a transitional living facility in Houston, Texas. The program included weekly yoga and meditation sessions and monthly nutrition and cooking classes. Dietary behavior was assessed using an adapted 10-item Healthy Eating Assessment, mental health symptoms using the PHQ-4, and physical activity using frequency items from the IPAQ Short Form.

The adapted dietary assessment total increased from 28.9 to 39.7 points (mean change +10.8, 95% CI [8.4, 13.2]; P < .001). PHQ-4 total decreased by 0.9 points but was not statistically significant (95% CI [-1.9, 0.1]; P = .080). Secondary analyses showed improvements in several dietary items and all 3 physical activity frequency measures. In exploratory analyses, anxiety symptoms decreased whereas depression symptoms did not.

Participation was associated with improvements in self-reported dietary behaviors and physical activity frequency. Larger controlled studies with validated measures and longer follow-up are needed.