Grant: Team Grant: HCIS - Healthy aging

Our Healthy Cities-Implementation Science Team in Healthy Aging tackles the epidemics of physical inactivity and loneliness that plague older adults who live in medium- and large-sized cities. Physically active older adults have better mobility, mental and social health than their inactive counterparts. Therefore, guided by implementation science principles (e.g., tailored for participants; adaptable to context), we co-designed Choose to Move (CTM) with older adults, community and government partners. CTM is a flexible, scalable community-based program that improved physical activity, mobility, social isolation and loneliness in older adults. From small beginnings, we scaled-up CTM over 8 years to reach >6000 older adults in British Columbia (BC). Our reservation was that CTM engaged primarily white older adults in Metro Vancouver; 77% were women. We now aim to expand the reach of CTM to better serve the needs of more diverse groups of older adults. We will support community-based seniors' services organizations (e.g., not-for-profits; neighbourhood houses) to adapt CTM to 'best fit' the older adults they serve, and build capacity in these organizations to deliver CTM. Through 5 projects, we will address 4 broad research objectives. We will: 1. Undertake evidence syntheses to identify knowledge gaps; 2. Describe how the CTM program and implementation strategies are adapted and implemented in older adults who are South Asian, older men or older adults in northern BC; 3. Evaluate whether readiness (e.g., organizational capacity), implementation strategies (e.g., training and technical support) and implementation factors (e.g., acceptability) influence how CTM is implemented; 4. Measure impact of CTM on physical activity and other health outcomes of older adults. Our impact will be engaged community organizations, a program that has been adapted to serve diverse older adults, a new generation of implementation scientists, and healthy, active and connected older adults.