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What Is the Optimal Duration of Participation in a Community-Based Health Promotion Program for Older Adults?

What Is the Optimal Duration of Participation in a Community-Based Health Promotion Program for... Optimizing duration of participation in health promotion programs has important implications for program reach and costs. We examine data from 355 participants in EnhanceWellness to determine whether improvements in disability risk factors (depression, physical inactivity) occurred early or late in the enrollment period. Participants had a mean age of 74 years; 76% were women, and 16% were non-White. The percentage depressed declined from enrollment to 6 months (35% to 28%, p = .001) and from 6 to 12 months (28% to 22%, p = .03). The percentage physically inactive declined over the first 6 months, without substantial change thereafter (47%, 29%, and 29%). Those remaining inactive at 6 months had worse self-rated health and more depressive symptoms initially; a subset of those increased their physical activity by 12 months. These data suggest that enrollment could be reduced from 12 to 6 months without compromising favorable effects of EW participation, although additional benefits may accrue beyond 6 months. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Applied Gerontology SAGE

What Is the Optimal Duration of Participation in a Community-Based Health Promotion Program for Older Adults?

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References (26)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
0733-4648
eISSN
1552-4523
DOI
10.1177/0733464807309188
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Optimizing duration of participation in health promotion programs has important implications for program reach and costs. We examine data from 355 participants in EnhanceWellness to determine whether improvements in disability risk factors (depression, physical inactivity) occurred early or late in the enrollment period. Participants had a mean age of 74 years; 76% were women, and 16% were non-White. The percentage depressed declined from enrollment to 6 months (35% to 28%, p = .001) and from 6 to 12 months (28% to 22%, p = .03). The percentage physically inactive declined over the first 6 months, without substantial change thereafter (47%, 29%, and 29%). Those remaining inactive at 6 months had worse self-rated health and more depressive symptoms initially; a subset of those increased their physical activity by 12 months. These data suggest that enrollment could be reduced from 12 to 6 months without compromising favorable effects of EW participation, although additional benefits may accrue beyond 6 months.

Journal

Journal of Applied GerontologySAGE

Published: Apr 1, 2008

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