University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences; UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center
Publication Date
2020-07-08
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Community-Based Research | Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Epidemiology | Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Neoplasms
Abstract
Purpose: Increased physical activity (PA) levels in cancer survivors are associated with decreased risk of recurrence and mortality as well as additional positive health outcomes. PA interventions have shown to be efficacious, though many lack translation to and sustainability in community settings. We used dimensions of the RE-AIM framework to evaluate LIVESTRONG(R) at the YMCA, a nation-wide community-based PA program for cancer survivors delivered at Ys.
Methods: This was a longitudinal study design using national LIVESTRONG at the YMCA data compiled between 2010 and 2018. Data is from all YMCAs who deliver LIVESTRONG at the YMCA, submitted by Program Directors to the YMCA-USA. We assessed reach (number of participants), adoption (associations offering the program), implementation (conducting 3 fidelity checks), and organizational level maintenance (associations recently offering program). We also examined relationships between organizational characteristics (years of program existence and association area household income) and program implementation factors with member conversion rates.
Results: As of 2018, LIVESTRONG at the YMCA has reached 62,044 survivors and 245 of the 840 (29.2%) of Y associations have adopted the program. Among the adopters, 91% were aware of fidelity checks; implementation of observational (62.3%), goal setting (49.9%), and functional (64.6%) checklists varied. Most (95.1%) adopters reported offering > /= 1 LIVESTRONG session per year (organizational-level maintenance) and a facility-level mean membership conversion percentage of 46.9 +/- 31.2%. Fewer years implementing the program and higher association area household income were significantly associated with a greater membership conversion rate vs their comparison. In a multiple regression model controlling for organizational characteristics, conducting the fidelity checks independently (observational, beta = 8.41; goal-setting, beta = 9.70; and functional, beta = 9.61) and collectively (beta = 10.82; 95% CI 5.90-16.80) was positively associated with higher membership conversion rates.
Conclusions: LIVESTRONG at the YMCA, in its early years, has shown promise for high reach, while adoption at more associations could be facilitated. Implementing fidelity checks along with organizational characteristics were associated with membership conversion rate. Identification of association-level strategies to increase reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance may increase the impact of this community-based PA program.
Keywords
Cancer, Community-based, Evaluation, Implementation, Physical activity
Rights and Permissions
Copyright The Author(s) 2020. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
DOI of Published Version
10.1186/s43058-020-00051-3
Source
Faro JM, Arem H, Heston AH, Hohman KH, Hodge H, Wang B, Lemon SC, Houston TK, Sadasivam RS. A longitudinal implementation evaluation of a physical activity program for cancer survivors: LIVESTRONG® at the YMCA. Implement Sci Commun. 2020 Jul 8;1:63. doi: 10.1186/s43058-020-00051-3. PMID: 32885218; PMCID: PMC7427880. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Implementation science communications
PubMed ID
32885218
Repository Citation
Faro J, Arem H, Heston A, Hohman KH, Hodge H, Wang B, Lemon SC, Houston TK, Sadasivam RS. (2020). A longitudinal implementation evaluation of a physical activity program for cancer survivors: LIVESTRONG(R) at the YMCA. University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-020-00051-3. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/1794
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Community-Based Research Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Health Services Administration Commons, Health Services Research Commons, Neoplasms Commons