Abstract TH906: Design of the HerStory First Study: A Step Toward Understanding Stress, Resilience, and Diet Quality for Culturally Restorative CVD Prevention in Young African American Women

Purpose: High stress contributes to poor diet quality, a key driver of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among young African American women (YAAW). Few studies examine psychological resilience—defined as one’s self-reported ability to bounce back from stress—as a predictor of dietary behaviors. Formative mixed-methods research offers an opportunity to understand how stress, resilience, and related resources influence diet quality. The current study describes the design of HerStory First , a community-engaged formative study conducted as Phase I of a planned resilience training pilot behavioral trial for YAAW. Methods: HerStory First employed an explanatory-sequential, mixed-methods design framed by Staudinger’s resilience and aging framework and a participatory approach. Three iterative phases were conducted: (0) early community engagement and integration of resilience theory to build trust, define shared resilience experiences, and review prior evidence; (1) co-design of a mixed-methods study (survey, n=233; four mini–focus groups, n=34) identifying stressors and resilience resources related to diet; and (2) translation of formative findings into a pilot resilience intervention (in progress). Community stakeholders guided study design, measure selection, recruitment strategies, and pilot development. Quantitative and qualitative strands were linked through joint displays and sequence-based integration, with survey data used to identify high- and low-resilience pools for focus group recruitment. Data analysis is ongoing. Results/Discussion: HerStory First demonstrates the potential importance of theory-driven, community-engaged formative research in informing preventive behavioral interventions for YAAW. Integrating mixed-methods approaches with community insight may support the identification of cultural resources as intervention targets for building resilience and fostering sustainable partnerships for the co-design of a behavioral clinical trial. By centering participants’ lived experiences, HerStory First moves away from deficit models and may establish a foundation for a culturally restorative, resilience-based behavioral trial aimed at preventing CVD among YAAW. Findings are forthcoming.