Access to Physical Therapy in a Medically Underserved, Urban Community.

Purpose: Austin is Chicago's largest community and is 85% African American. The purpose of this study was to the examine facilitators and barriers to physical therapy (PT) access as described by Austin community residents and health care providers (HCPs).

Methods: Community residents (n=47) participated in focus groups.

Design and development of a mobile exercise application for home care aides and older adult medicaid home and community-based clients.

We describe a community-engaged approach with Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS), home care aide (HCA), client, and physical therapist stakeholders to develop a mobile application (app) exercise intervention through focus groups and interviews. Participants desired a short exercise program with modification capabilities, goal setting, and mechanisms to track progress. Concerns regarding participation were training needs and feasibility within usual care services.

Fit and Strong! Plus: design of a comparative effectiveness evaluation of a weight management program for older adults with osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic condition and principal cause of disability among older adults. The current obesity epidemic has contributed to this high prevalence rate. Fortunately both OA symptoms and obesity can be ameliorated through lifestyle modifications.

Creating a community-physical therapy partnership to increase physical activity in urban African-American adults.

Background: Racial disparities in health across the United States remain, and in some cities have worsened despite increased focus at federal and local levels. One approach to addressing health inequity is community-based participatory research (CBPR).

Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to describe the develop ment of an ongoing community-physical therapy partnership focused on physical activity (PA), which aims to improve the health of African-American community members and engage physical therapist (PT) students in CBPR.

A novel program trains community-academic teams to build research and partnership capacity.

The Community-Engaged Research Team Support (CERTS) program was developed and tested to build research and partnership capacity for community-engaged research (CEnR) teams. Led by the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS), the goals of CERTS were: (1) to help community-academic teams build capacity for conducting rigorous CEnR and (2) to support teams as they prepare federal grant proposal drafts. The program was guided by an advisory committee of community and clinical partners, and representatives from Chicago's Clinical and Translational Science Institutes.

Physical therapists' health promotion activities for older adults.

Background And Purpose: It is not known to what extent and how effectively physical therapists working with older adults are promoting health with their patients. The purpose of this study was to describe what physical therapists in a midwestern urban area do with older adults (65 years and older) for health and wellness promotion in the clinical setting.

Subjects: A total of 65 physical therapists were invited to participate in the study.

Measuring disparities: bias in the Short Form-36v2 among Spanish-speaking medical patients.

Background: Many national surveys have found substantial differences in self-reported overall health between Spanish-speaking Hispanics and other racial/ethnic groups. However, because cultural and language differences may create measurement bias, it is unclear whether observed differences in self-reported overall health reflect true differences in health.

Objectives: This study uses a cross-sectional survey to investigate psychometric properties of the Short Form-36v2 for subjects across 4 racial/ethnic and language groups.

Fit and Strong!: bolstering maintenance of physical activity among older adults with lower-extremity osteoarthritis.

Objectives: To compare the impact of negotiated vs. mainstreamed follow-up with telephone reinforcement (TR) on maintenance of physical activity (PA) after Fit and Strong! ended.

Methods: A multisite comparative effectiveness trial with repeated measures.

Comparison of two methods of conducting the Fit and Strong! program.

Objective: Fit and Strong! is an award winning, evidence-based, multiple-component physical activity/behavior change intervention. It is a group- and facility-based program that meets for 90 minutes 3 times per week for 8 weeks (24 sessions total). We originally tested Fit and Strong! using physical therapists (PTs) as instructors but have transitioned to using nationally certified exercise instructors (CEIs) as part of an effort to translate Fit and Strong! into community-based settings, and have tested the impact of this shift in instruction type on participant outcomes.

Patients with worse mental health report more physical limitations after adjustment for physical performance.

Objective: To determine whether mental health scores are associated with self-reported physical limitations after adjustment for physical performance. Patient-reported physical limitations are widely used to assess health status or the impact of disease. However, patients' mental health may influence their reports of their physical limitations.

Long-term impact of Fit and Strong! on older adults with osteoarthritis.

Purpose: We present final outcomes from the multiple-component Fit and Strong! intervention for older adults with lower extremity osteoarthritis.

Design And Methods: A randomized controlled trial compared the effects of this exercise and behavior-change program followed by home-based reinforcement (n=115) with a wait list control (n=100) at 2, 6, and 12 months. Fit and Strong! combined flexibility, aerobic walking, and resistance training with education and group problem solving to enhance self-efficacy for exercise and maintenance of physical activity.

Impact of the fit and strong intervention on older adults with osteoarthritis.

Purpose: This study assessed the impact of a low cost, multicomponent physical activity intervention for older adults with lower extremity osteoarthritis.

Design And Methods: A randomized controlled trial compared the effects of a facility-based multiple-component training program followed by home-based adherence (n = 80) to a wait list control group (n = 70). Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 2 and 6 months following randomization.