Advance-CTR

Advance-CTR Mentored Research Awards (2018)

"Improving the Translation and Dissemination of Technology-Delivered Physical Activity Interventions through Perspectives of Users, Stakeholders, and Researchers"

The proposed research sought to build our understanding of how to best disseminate and implement existing web-based physical activity interventions by integrating the RE-AIM framework with concepts from the Technology Acceptance Model. This research was conducted with: (i) Community stakeholders strategically selected to represent communities in Rhode Island which are under-served, and predominantly serve low-income populations, and (ii) low-income, low-active adults in Rhode Island. Assessments were conducted at the individual and community-level in order to understand how best to facilitate community-based implementation of complex, self-guided behavioral interventions for physical activity.  Using technology to provide access to interventions within community-based settings is promising, and both a community stakeholder-, and community member-desired means to promote physical activity behavior. Although the potential for technology-delivered interventions to help reduce health disparities is great, the lack of publicly available programs deepens the digital divide by creating additional barriers to accessing evidence-based care. The results of this research have the potential to improve the public’s access to evidence-based physical activity interventions, ultimately improving levels of physical activity, and reducing disease burden due to chronic disease in the state of Rhode Island.