Grant: Project Grant

In British Columbia (BC), there are >14000 people waiting for total hip and knee replacement (THR/TKR) surgery; most experience pain, limited mobility and poor quality of life. Physical activity improves these outcomes in people with osteoarthritis (OA). However, people with OA on waitlists for THR/TKR have unique needs, and barriers to engaging in physical activity. Choose to Move (CTM) is a health-promoting program for older adults across BC that improved physical activity, mobility, social connectedness, and decreased loneliness in >8400 low active, community-dwelling older adults. CTM is comprised of two intervention components delivered over 3 months: a 30-min one-on-one consultation with an activity coach and 8 group meetings with the activity coach and CTM participants. For this project, we partnered with Doctors of BC (DOBC) to adapt CTM for people with OA on surgical waitlists for THR/TKR (called CTM: Replacement Ready; CTM-RR). Our objectives are to evaluate i. whether CTM-RR can be implemented effectively, and ii. whether participation in CTM-RR improves health outcomes of older adults during the surgical waiting period. With new (DOBC) and established (Active Aging Society) partnerships, we will recruit older adults on surgical waitlists across BC. We will deliver 20 virtual CTM-RR programs (200 participants) over 2 years. For our implementation evaluation, we will assess how well CTM-RR is delivered, and how acceptable and satisfied participants are with CTM-RR. For the effectiveness evaluation, we will assess the impact of CTM-RR on participants' physical activity, mobility, social connectedness, psychosocial health, and joint health. Our team has expertise in older adult health promotion and implementation science research, physical activity for OA, and knowledge mobilization. We envision that CTM-RR could reduce the painful health burden among people who are awaiting THR/TKR for OA.