Partnership Building and Implementation of an Integrated Healthy-Aging Program.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based interventions exist for prevention of chronic disease in older adults. Partnering with community organizations may provide a mechanism for disseminating these interventions.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the partnership and program implementation by the Arthritis Foundation (AF) and the University of Pittsburgh.

METHODS: The AF Exercise Program (AFEP; an existing evidence-based program) was enhanced with the "10 Keys"™ to Healthy Aging (a prevention-focused program bundling the most common risk factors for chronic disease and disability in older adults and applies behavior change strategies to enhance prevention). The program was delivered in 20 sessions over 10 weeks by community health workers in a cluster-randomized trial.

LESSONS LEARNED: Partnering with an organization having an existing infrastructure supports program delivery at the community level. This partnership provided programming in 54 sites across Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.

CONCLUSIONS: This collaborative partnership created a productive synergy maximizing strengths in both research and program delivery.