Translation of Fit and Strong!: Focus group findings from suburban and rural providers and instructors

Fit and Strong! is an award winning evidence-based, multi-component exercise/behavior change program for older adults with osteoarthritis that is being diffused nationally. We have been funded under the new CDC initiative, “Improving Public Health Practice through Translation (R18)” to disseminate Fit and Strong! in four AAA catchment areas in North Carolina and Illinois (2 suburban, 2 rural). To prepare for implementation, we are conducting eight focus groups (two in each AAA region) with physical activity providers and instructors between February and April 2008. The focus groups are using the RE-AIM framework to explore Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance of Fit and Strong! We will collect data on perceived barriers and facilitators to adoption, current organizational supply of exercise instructors, current physical activity program offerings, training of exercise instructors, and the availability of exercise equipment and resources for same. We also will ask participants to discuss issues of cost and feasibility, such as perceptions of appropriate costs for training exercise instructors, the cost that agencies consider to be appropriate for instructor and participant manuals, and the costs that are considered to be appropriate for ongoing program maintenance. We will analyze focus group transcripts for themes, focusing on similarities and differences between the responses given by participants in suburban vs. rural communities. The findings will provide valuable information that will guide the translation of Fit and Strong! in geographically diverse regions and should be generalizable to the translation and diffusion of other evidence-based health promotion programs for older adults.