Perceptions of a community-gardening program: Insights from the TRIOWell pilot with low-active, middle-aged African American women

Community gardens are promising health equity-promoting interventions because of their potential to influence health at multiple levels. A culturally tailored community gardening intervention with a historically relevant component known as “Black History Knowledge” (BHK) may increase its saliency among African American (AA) women. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of health, social capital, and the acceptability of BHK as cultural tailoring among AA women ( n = 11) who participated in an 8-week culturally tailored community gardening intervention. Eleven postintervention interviews were conducted through Zoom or telephone. Using inductive coding three major themes emerged: (1) Preparing for and actively making behavior changes, (2) Newfound opportunity for community engagement and camaraderie, and (3) Opportunities to reconstruct and enrich: Feedback for intervention components. This study highlights how community gardening may support health behavior change among Black women, emphasizing the role of relationships and potential for scaling up the intervention.