The Avon Network for the Promotion of Active Ageing in the Community

Regular physical activity affects both physical and mental health in older people. It helps to prevent major diseases, reduces the risk of depression and dementia and is a important for social contact and independent living. However, the best ways to encourage and help older people to increase their daily activity are not well understood. The aim of the proposed Avon Network for the Promotion of Active Ageing in the Community is to develop a forum for sharing information on the promotion of physical activity in older people. This will include older people themselves as well as university-based researchers, health service providers and leisure activity providers. These ?key stakeholders? will develop recommendations for physical activity programmes for older people living in the community. They will also develop proposals for future research to further develop and evaluate such programmes. The activities of the proposed network will be as follows:- 1. We will hold a series of meetings involving all the key stakeholders as well as invited speakers. 2. We will draw together evidence from existing research on people aged 70 or over. This will aim to identify all the influences that affect people?s physical activity and include the views of local residents. We will also look at and summarise research which assesses the effectiveness of existing programmes to promote physical activity. 3. We will re-examine data from existing research studies and local service delivery evaluations where this might help to inform our recommendations on what might work to promote physical activity in older people. 4. Working together, the stakeholders will compare different approaches to promoting physical activity by looking at how much evidence there is to support their use. They will also assess how practical they are likely to be for local use. 5. We will set up group discussions to ask for the views of older people from different neighbourhoods and communities about the different approaches we identify for promoting physical activity. 6. We will draw together the results of the above activities to produce a series of options and recommendations for promoting physical activity in older people. The proposed applicants and collaborators have an excellent track record of research and service delivery in this area and are well placed to successfully achieve the aims of this proposal.