Marketing Fall Prevention Classes to Older Adults in Faith-Based Congregations

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Accidental Falls
• Interventions: Behavioral: Marketing program to motivate exercise class participation

• Registration Number: NCT00542360
• Lead Sponsor: University of Colorado, Denver

Brief Summary

This cluster randomized trial will test whether a social marketing program implemented in churches can motivate older adults to join exercise classes, in order to improve their strength and balance and thus prevent falls.

Detailed Description

Injuries from falls are a leading cause of emergency visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in older US adults, resulting in total lifetime costs of more than $19 billion in 2000. Fall injuries reduce independence and mobility, and increase disability and institutionalization. There is good evidence that community-based group exercise classes focusing on strength and balance prevent older adult falls, but uptake is limited. This study will test a new approach to promote participation in group balance-retraining exercise classes, targeting older adults in faith-based congregations. The proposal addresses national research priorities to evaluate strategies for dissemination and implementation of effective interventions to prevent falls among community-dwelling older adults. Focus groups and key informant interviews will provide research-based understanding of church members aged 60+ and those who influence them, and explore facilitators and barriers to class participation. With this formative research, a targeted social marketing program will be developed to motivate participation. Behavioral change and social marketing theories form the intervention's theoretical basis and will guide program design. The marketing program aims to increase class attractiveness, usability, and uptake by reducing barriers or costs and using incentives or other benefits to reinforce participation. Churches, representing varied denominations and communities, will be randomly allocated to intervention (marketing program implementation) or control (no program) groups. Outreach to diverse churches will ensure that materials and strategies target potentially hard-to-reach (e.g., Hispanic, rural) populations. The trial will test whether older adult members of intervention churches are more likely to join balance retraining classes. Factors that may mediate intervention effects will be examined. Secondary outcomes include baseline fall risk among class participants, assessed by physical function tests; and intensity, diffusion, message penetration and acceptability of the marketing program, and persistent facilitators and barriers to class participation, evaluated with process measures, focus groups, and structured interviews.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2007-10
• Study First Submitted: 2007-10-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2007-10-09
• Study First Posted: 2007-10-11
• Primary Completion: 2011-09
• Study Completion: 2012-01
• Status Verified: 2018-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2018-11-29
• Last Update Posted: 2018-12-03

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 51

Inclusion Criteria

• Churches located in Mesa County, Colorado, that have adult members who are aged 60 and older
• Exercise class participants will include community-dwelling members of enrolled churches who are aged 60 and older, English- or Spanish-speaking, ambulatory with or without assistive devices, and cognitively able to consent and be tested.

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Exclusion Criteria

• Older adults with any medical condition that precludes participation in an exercise program, as determined by the participant or their physician, or who are not physically able to pass the Modified-Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction in Balance (M-CTSIB) at baseline

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Social marketing program	Marketing program to motivate exercise class participation	Behavioral: Social marketing program to motivate exercise class participation

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The primary endpoint is defined as attending at least one balance-retraining exercise class designed to reduce older adult falls	During the two-year intervention period

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Baseline fall-risk status of participants who attend at least one balance-retraining exercise class for fall prevention	During the two-year intervention period

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; 🇺🇸 Denver, Colorado, United States

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; 🇺🇸 Grand Junction, Colorado, United States