To implement a multilevel, church-based intervention with diverse disparity populations using community-based participatory research and evaluate feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness in improving obesity-related outcomes.,Cluster randomized controlled trial (pilot). Setting: Two midsized (∼200 adults) African American baptist and 2 very large (∼2000) Latino Catholic churches in South Los Angeles, California.,Adult (18+ years) congregants (n = 268 enrolled at baseline, ranging from 45 to 99 per church).,Various components were implemented over 5 months and included 2 sermons by pastor, educational handouts, church vegetable and fruit gardens, cooking and nutrition classes, daily mobile messaging, community mapping of food and physical activity environments, and identification of congregational policy changes to increase healthy meals.,Outcomes included objectively measured body weight, body mass index (BMI), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), plus self-reported overall healthiness of diet and usual minutes spent in physical activity each week; control variables include sex, age, race–ethnicity, English proficiency, education, household income, and (for physical activity outcome) self-reported health status.,Multivariate linear regression models estimated the average effect size of the intervention, controlling for pair fixed effects, a main effect of the intervention, and baseline values of the outcomes.,Among those completing follow-up (68%), the intervention resulted in statistically significantly less weight gain and greater weight loss (–0.05 effect sizes; 95% confidence interval [CI] = –0.06 to –0.04), lower BMI (–0.08; 95% CI = –0.11 to –0.05), and healthier diet (–0.09; 95% CI = –0.17 to –0.00). There was no evidence of an intervention impact on BP or physical activity minutes per week.,Implementing a multilevel intervention across diverse congregations resulted in small improvements in obesity outcomes. A longer time line is needed to fully implement and assess effects of community and congregation environmental strategies and to allow for potential larger impacts of the intervention.

Suicide prevention trainings are implemented to equip the public's ability to intervene with those who are at-risk, but their implementation is not often monitored for quality. In this study, we propose a quality improvement model to improve trainer skill, demonstrate evidence of knowledge uptake, and document the quality of training workshop implementation. We collected participant data (N=2006) from over 127 Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) training workshops that evaluated workshop satisfaction, confidence to intervene, and likelihood to intervene and refer immediately post-training. We also collected trainer data by measuring fidelity and adherence to the ASIST protocol at five live ASIST workshops. Training participants reported improved confidence and likelihood to intervene and refer after the workshop. Participants also reported high satisfaction. In three of the five workshops, newly trained trainers covered 75% or more of the fidelity items demonstrating thorough review of the training. Trainers generally adhered to one of four competencies specific to ASIST and five of the 11 general competencies relating to group management. Trainers may need to improve their efforts to tailor content to specific audiences, promote cultural competence, and manage time.