(PS1-D84) Healthy Activity Improves Lives: Exercise for Minority Older Adults

Introduction: Only 2.5% to 11% of adults over the age of 65 meet their age specific physical activity (PA) guidelines. Specifically, Black men and women report less PA than their White counterpart. This is concerning as existing literature emphasized the role of PA in counteracting negative effects of aging. Importantly, older adults who engage in PA show similar or greater strength gains compared with young individuals. Thus, PA is considered a primary strategy to prevent chronic health conditions and improve overall health. The evidence-based Fit and Strong! (F&S!) protocol is a PA program for typically underserved older adults that has shown efficacy from their 8-week of exercise. However, improvements are typically not maintained post-intervention. We developed an online platform to support the F&S! program called the Healthy Activity Improves Lives (HAIL) online platform. This was implemented in two, predominantly Black, churches in Boston.

Methods: Participants (N=37) were predominantly women (n=33; 90%), Black (n=36; 97%) and non-Hispanic (n=29; 78%). Most did not complete college (n=30; 81%) and have a household income < $50,000 (n=22; 71%). The mean age was 74.4 years (SD=6.7). Each group completed the F&S! Program in conjunction with the use of the online platform. The F&S! program consisted of 24, 90-minute PA sessions for 8 weeks. Each session included 30-minute of psychoeducation and 60-minute of PA (aerobic, endurance and strength training). Participants completed baseline surveys on mental and physical health.

Results: Participants were on average experiencing poor well-being based on the World Health Organization-5 item scale (WHO-5) (M = 20.93; SD = 2.92), but endorsed few depressive symptoms as examined with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (M=1.80; SD=2.00) and were motivated to change their current level of PA (i.e., on a 10-point Likert scale with 1=not ready change and 10=ready for change) (M=8.43; SD=2.90). Both groups have completed the 8-week F&S! program and are currently in the 12-week follow-up phase using the online HAIL platform to support their PA.

Discussion: PA can counteract negative effects of aging and is associated with physical and mental benefits in older adults. However, disparities in PA exist between older Black and White adults. Listening sessions revealed several barriers and facilitators to exercises, which could be helpful targets for improving accessibility and effectiveness of future PA programs. We also plan to report baseline, end of program, and follow-up main outcomes data for each group.