Promoting participation: evaluation of a health promotion program for low income seniors.
This article describes a qualitative evaluation of the Seniors Active Living in Vulnerable Elders (ALIVE) program, a 10-month health promotion program for low income seniors. Program interventions delivered in seniors' apartment buildings included exercise classes, health information sessions (i.e., health corners), and newsletters. The evaluation examined program participation, program impacts, and how the program worked. The most frequent reason for joining the program was recognizing the benefits of exercise, and the most frequent reason for not attending the program was having other priorities. The main participant impact was "feeling better." Specific impacts were also noted in physical, mental, and social domains. Fun, program delivery adaptations, autonomy, social interactions, and staff-participant relationships were discovered to be important program processes. These processes all contributed to participant's "comfort" in the program. How and why the program worked is examined in relation to Pender's (1996) revised health promotion model and implications for nursing are indicated.
Centre for Health Promotion Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. rbuijs@casaservices.org
Rosanne
R
Buijs
Janet
J
Ross-Kerr
Sandra O'Brien
SO
Cousins
Douglas
D
Wilson
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life