• Sophia O Tolliver, Jennifer L Hefner, Starling D Tolliver, and Leon McDougle.
• From The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Department of Family Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus (SOT, JLH, SDT, LM); The Division of Healthcare Management and Policy, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus (JLH). sophia.tolliver@osumc.edu.
• J Am Board Fam Med. 2019 Nov 1; 32 (6): 944-947.

IntroductionAfrican American (AA) women have reported hair maintenance as a barrier to regular exercise; however, to our knowledge, this study is the first to identify primary care provider thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge regarding hair as a barrier to increased physical activity among AA females.MethodsA 13-question electronic survey was sent via email to 151 clinicians working within a department of family medicine's 8 ambulatory clinics within a large urban academic medical center.ResultsA total of 62 primary care clinicians completed the survey, which is a response rate of 41%. The vast majority of respondents (95%) sometimes/often engage in discussions with AA female patients regarding physical activity. However, 76% of respondents have never included a hairstyling or maintenance assessment in that discussion and only 34% noted being comfortable discussing this topic. Among a list of potential barriers to exercise, hair maintenance/scalp perspiration was rarely endorsed as important by clinicians.DiscussionThis study highlights a need for increased education among primary care providers regarding AA hair care and maintenance practices as a barrier to increased physical activity in AA women. If specific barriers to increasing healthy habits among AA women are to be addressed, there must be a baseline knowledge of hair care and maintenance barriers, an understanding of the strong influence of cultural norms and practices as it relates to physical activity and exercise, and an increased comfortability when engaging in difficult cross-cultural conversations to ultimately improve health outcomes in AA females.© Copyright 2019 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

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