2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
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Online Program

336085
Implementing EnhanceFitness: The importance of site characteristics


Monday, November 2, 2015

Chelsie Anderson, MA, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Anamika Batra, BDS, MPH, Ph.D., Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
Richard C. Palmer, DrPH, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
Background: Community-based physical activity programs can produce health benefits for older adults. Evaluation research is needed to understand the characteristics of sites that support successful program implementation.

Methods: The Healthy Aging Regional Collaborative of South Florida (HARC) offered EnhanceFitness (EF), an evidence-based physical activity program for older adults, at 108 sites between 2008 and 2013. The chi-square statistic was used to test the relationship between site type and program completion by participants. To understand the characteristics of sites that worked well for delivering programs, a focus group was conducted with HARC program coordinators.

Results: A total of 8,600 participants attended one or more EF classes with 1,677 participants classified as completers for attending at least 32 sessions within the first 16 weeks. A significant association was found between site type and program completion, X2 (6, N=8600)=123.73, p<.001. While few participants completed the program, churches and senior centers had the highest percentage of completers with over 24% of participants completing the program. Clinics had the lowest percentage of completers with less than 12% of participants completing the program.  HARC coordinators reported that sites that worked well had a captive audience, were accessible to the community, and had staff members who took ownership of the program.  

Conclusions: Findings indicate that site type is an important factor for the completion of EF. Understanding what site characteristics maximize program attendance can inform the decisions of program implementers.

Learning Areas:

Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs

Learning Objectives:
Analyze the relationship between site type and program attendance. Identify the types of sites with the best attendance. Discuss the perspectives of health promotion program coordinators regarding the characteristics of sites that work well and sites that do not work well.

Keyword(s): Health Promotion and Education, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Florida International University. I have worked for the Healthy Aging Initiative for three years and have been involved in many aspects of the project including survey development, data analysis, and interpretation for. My research interests include healthy aging and evidence-based health promotion for older adults.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3323.0: Translating Aging Research into Practice