4 - (SYM 121) Exercise and Online Maintenance Program for Older, Predominantly Black Adults

It is estimated that only 2.5 to 11% of adults over the age of 65 meet their age specific physical activity (PA) guidelines. Moreover, Black men and women report less PA than White men and women suggesting that older, Black adults are at greater risk for not exercising regularly. This is concerning as data has highlighted that PA can counteract these negative effects of aging in older adults. Importantly older adults also 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. We implemented the evidence-based Fit and Strong! (F&S!) PA program for older, typically underserved adults in two, predominantly Black churches in Boston. There are 24 F&S! PA sessions over 8 weeks and each session includes 30 min of psychoeducation and 60 minutes of PA that includes endurance and strength training. Although the gains from this 8-week, F&S! exercise program are strong across multiple, large randomized trials (i.e., participants increase their PA), they are typically not maintained at the 12-week, follow-up visit. Thus, we developed an online platform to support this effective 8-week, F&S! program called the Healthy Activity Improves Lives (HAIL) online platform. We conducted two, F&S! groups (N=37) with participants who are predominantly women (n=33; 90%), Black (n=36; 97%), non-Hispanic (n=29; 78%), not completed college (n=30; 81%) and with a household income < $50,000 (n=22; 71% as denominator is n=31 as 6 individuals preferred not to answer). The mean age of the two groups were 74.4 (SD=6.7). 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 prepared 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 with excellent acceptability and feasibility (i.e., 96% completion rate) and are currently in the 12-week follow-up phase using the online HAIL platform to support their PA. The in-person F&S! program and the online HAIL platform (e.g., dashboard, exercise logs, class recordings, instructor tips, short stories about participants) will be described further as part of the presentation as well as outcomes of both study phases (highlighting well-being) in this typically underserved population.