Table 3.

Emergent themes from focus group series.

Focus group dates	Emergent themes
Focus group 1: June 29-30, 2020	Introduction to focus group series and updated FAITH! App
Focus group 2: August 3-5, 2020	General perceptions of the FAITH! App Fits well with norms and values of the AA communities. Updates to the cardiovascular health education modules completed prior to the current study were satisfactory.
	Using the FAITH! App in daily life and perception of transition to virtual focus group series (from in-person) Tailored messaging helpful reminders for participants to interact with the app. Enjoyed previous in-person aspects of the FAITH! study but found virtual format acceptable to remain connected.
	COVID-19 pandemic and utility of FAITH! App in incorporating healthy behaviors App helpful to maintain cardiovascular health during pandemic. Felt more health conscious and emphasized importance of maintaining good health to avoid COVID-19 infection.
	Suggestions for FAITH! App refinement: visual and educational content, sharing board, tracking features Education module icons and colors within the app, particularly the testimonial videos appeared out of date. Preferred more diversity of people featured in the testimonial videos including more representation of local community leaders to increase relevance to the churches. Live events or videos through the app such as cooking or fitness sessions would enhance app experience. Issues with transmission of physical activity data from Fitbit to FAITH! App. Preferred option of retrospectively entering diet intake for prior days.
Focus group 3: October 20-22, 2020	Updated visual features Updated education module icons were more visually appealing and attention-grabbing. Colors in testimonials were more vibrant and modern.
	Updated testimonial videos Important tools to recruit participants. High satisfaction of community leadership representation in testimonials. May be more effective if shorter in duration. Appreciation of increased representation of members from participating churches in videos, however, further inclusivity could be achieved by increasing variety of ages, body size representation, and gender balance. Addition of church affiliation to individual testimonials could be helpful to establish connections with participants.
	App engagement: moderated sharing board, interchurch competition, tailored messaging, and fitness videos Some participants found posting to the sharing board motivating while others found encouragement from reading posts. Adding subject matter experts to answer participant questions and posts could enhance sharing board. Moderators on the sharing board should be clearly identified. Spirit of competition between churches encouraged participants to be more active. Some participants encountered recycled tailored messaging. Increasing the number of available predetermined rule-based tailored messages could help avoid repetitive messaging. Enjoyed engaging with fitness videos at home.
	Future Recommendations Ideally, real-time physical activity data transmission from Fitbit to FAITH! App is preferred over daily syncing of Fitbit to app. Participants preferred options to edit previously made incorrect diet entries. Casting fitness videos from the FAITH! App to other devices could increase participant ability to share videos with others.

COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; FAITH!, Fostering African-American Improvement in Total Health!.