title: The long-term relationship between high-intensity volunteering and physical activity in older African American women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Experience Corps (EC) places older volunteers in public elementary schools in 20 cities across the country. The EC program in Baltimore is a health promotion intervention designed to improve the academic outcomes of children and increase older adult volunteer physical activity. We sought to determine if there were sustained increases in physical activity with participation in EC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-one African American women volunteers in the Baltimore EC were compared with 150 African American women in the Women's Health and Aging Studies (WHAS) I and II; all were aged 65-86 years with comparable Social Economic Status, frailty, and self-reported health status. Using a regression model, we evaluated physical activity adjusting for a propensity score and time of follow-up over 3 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  EC volunteers reported a sustained increase in physical activity as compared with the comparison cohort. Baseline physical activity for individuals with a median propensity score was 420 kcal/wk for both groups. At 36 months, EC volunteers reported 670 kcal/week compared with 410 kcal/week in WHAS (p = .04). Discussion These findings suggest that high-intensity senior service programs that are designed as health promotion interventions could lead to sustained improvements in physical activity in high-risk older adults, while simultaneously addressing important community needs.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, 2024 East Monument Street, Suite 2-700, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. erwin.tan@alumni.brown.edu
authors.forename: Erwin J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Rebok
authors.forename: Qilu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Constantine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Frangakis
authors.forename: Michelle C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ricks
authors.forename: Elizabeth K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McGill
authors.forename: Linda P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Fried
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015142:Baltimore; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D009043:Motor Activity; D014505:Urban Population; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*