Local Community Center Research Articles

A feasibility study of training in a local community aimed upon health promotion with special emphasis on musculoskeletal health effects

Background: To minimize fracture risk, multimodal training regimens are recommended. However, their effectiveness in community settings remains uncertain. This study evaluated the feasibility of 19-weeks of multimodal training in a local community center with emphasis on musculoskeletal health in postmenopausal women. Methods: In a controlled trial, 28 postmenopausal women (53-68-years-old) were assigned to a multimodal training group (MMT, n=15) or a control group (CON, n=13). The training consisted of high- and odd-impact, resistance and balance-coordination training 1-2 hours weekly. The outcomes were attendance rate, regional and total bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), bone turnover markers (BTM), body composition, functional muscle strength and power, and dynamic balance. All were determined at baseline and after 19 weeks of training. BTM was assessed after three weeks. Results: Overall, 22(79%) participants (MMT, n=9; CON, n=13) completed the study, and the mean attendance rate for MMT was 65.5% of the maximum sessions (2) offered. Only right trochanter BMD increased (p<0.05) by 1.0±1.1% in MMT, which was higher(p<0.05) than CON. While whole-body BMC was not changed at 19 weeks from baseline in MMT, it decreased (p<0.05) in CON resulting in a significant difference (p<0.05) in whole-body BMC delta values between the two groups. Compared to baseline, body fat percentage(%BF), fat mass(FM), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT)-mass and -volume were decreased (p<0.01) in MMT, and were larger (p<0.05) than CON. No significant changes were observed in BTM, muscle strength and power, and dynamic balance after 19 weeks. Conclusions: Nineteen weeks of multimodal training 1-2 hours per week in a local community had a health-enhancing effect on %BF, FM, and VAT, whereas the musculoskeletal health impact was modest. We hypothesize that the reason might be too low training volume and frequency and supposedly too low musculoskeletal training intensity for some participants. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05164679 (21/12/2021).

Identification of Appropriate Drone Technology and its application areas for Agriculture Automation in Bhutan

Various applications of drones in agriculture sector around the world have been analysed in this paper. One of the conclusions after the study conducted indicates that almost all of the tasks are not fully automated but relies on the drone operator. The role played by the operator is varied depending on the type of tasks performed. Nevertheless, irrespective of the level of involvement of the operator, all the agricultural tasks noted in this study benefited immensely by the involvement of drones. The agricultural characteristics and limitations in Bhutanese context were studied along with the drone obligatory restrictions from the Bhutan Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA). The application areas to agricultural sectors in Bhutan which are legally and economically feasible have been mapped. The study also proposes the drones to be owned and operated by local government officials or community centre heads since farmers are not eligible to own the drones as well as due to small land holdings it is also not feasible.

1350. Limited Opportunities for Student Involvement in Infectious Diseases in the Mountain West: How a New Group is Bridging the Gap

Abstract Background The documented lack of infectious disease physicians in the United States has motivated substantial research. A new student group, “InfectED”, was formed at the University of Utah with a particular focus on community and student education in infectious diseases. To explore the efforts of our peer clubs, this study characterized student groups focused on infectious diseases (ID), microbiology (M), or global/public health (GPH) in the Mountain West. Methods A list of undergraduate colleges, including associates/community colleges, with enrollments of 1,000+ students in eight Mountain West states was constructed. Enrollment was verified with the College Navigator service from the NCES. A second list of 26 schools providing either medical (MD & DO) and/or physician assistant degrees was also developed. Club constitutions, campus and social media webpages were consulted to determine club activities and goals. Results Of the 90 final undergraduate schools, 19 (21.2%) had at least one group. 14 M, 16 GPH, and one ID group were found. 4 (12.9%) groups were at private institutions, with the remainder (87.1%) at public universities; none were at associates/community colleges. 11 (35.5%) groups were chapters of either the American Society for Microbiology, GlobeMed, or Operation Outbreak. Of the professional schools, 1 (3.85%) had groups for M, 11 (42.3%) for GPH, and 2 (7.69%) for ID. Community service, student and community education, guest lectures, journal club, and social and enrichment events were frequently mentioned in club bylaws. Undergraduate Groups Found in the Mountain West Thirty-one groups for infectious diseases, microbiology, or global/public health were found in undergraduate universities in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The state of Montana has no groups, and no groups were found at associates and community colleges. Conclusion We demonstrate a need for ID-related student involvement opportunities. By developing chapters of ID organizations such as IDSA, students can be inspired to consider the field later on. A strong interest in global/public health is seen, which can be leveraged to attract interest in ID. The absence of any groups at associates/community colleges is also striking. To target this gap and increase interest, InfectED is directing education and enrichment efforts in both English and Spanish at local community centers, community colleges, and high schools with audiences reporting higher interest in both healthcare and ID afterward. A qualitative survey with an invitation to collaborate is currently collecting responses from our peer clubs. Audience Interest in ID Increases Answer to the question "this presentation influenced my decision to consider pursuing a career in microbiology and/or infectious disease" by community college and high school students across multiple InfectED presentations. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

Bilingual interactional contexts predict executive functions in older adults

AbstractDrawing on the adaptive control hypothesis, we examined whether older adults’ bilingual interactional contexts of conversational exchanges would predict important indices of executive functions (EF). We assessed participants’ engagement in each bilingual interactional context – single-language, dual-language, and dense code-switching – and their performance on a series of nonverbal EF measures. Sixty-nine healthy older adults (Mage = 70.39 years; ages 60–93) were recruited from local community centers. We found that the dense code-switching context was associated with enhanced overall EF, but not individual facets of EF (inhibitory control, shifting, and updating). These findings held true when we controlled for a host of covariates. Our findings shed light on aging bilinguals’ interactional contexts as crucial bilingual experiences that modulate overall EF. Given that bilingualism is a multidimensional construct, rather than a unidimensional variable, our study underscores the importance of more fine-grained operationalisation of bilingualism when studying its impacts on EF.

Building and Sustaining Community Partnerships: An Organizational Network Analysis in a Low-resource Neighborhood.

Launched in 2012, the Claremont Healthy Village Initiative (CHVI) is a partnership focused on fostering community collaboration, addressing the social determinants of health, and reducing health disparities. Partners include local community centers, schools, after-school programs, health care providers, a health insurer, city agencies, tenant associations, resident leaders, elected officials, and other stakeholders. To understand the development and value of collaboration within the CHVI from the perspective of multiple partners. Using a community-based participatory research approach, we worked collaboratively with the CHVI leaders, we used paper-and web-based surveys grounded in social network theory were administered in 2017 and 2018. Questions focused on relationships between organizations that are part of the coalition. Our analysis included responses from organizations that participated in the survey at both points in time. Network measures such as density, degree centrality, and node characteristics were used to understand information sharing, referral, and collaboration among the participating organizations. Additional data included stake-holder interviews. Coalition partners increased connectedness with one another over the course of the study, with significantly greater density of relationship and bi-directional partnerships in the follow-up survey. Of the three types of interactions, referrals showed a trend for highest density change. Trust levels were highest among organizations with a local physical presence. Social network analysis provided visual and quantitative information that helped reinforce relationships and identify opportunities to improve connectedness and collaboration among diverse community partners, helping to support the coalition's goals and objectives.

A preliminary evaluation of a novel education model for young people with Type 1 diabetes: the Youth Empowerment Skills programme

Background: Adolescence is a challenging time for young people with Type 1 diabetes, associated with worsening glycaemia and disengagement with care. To improve support, we co-designed with young people a novel psychosocially modelled programme of diabetes education (the Youth Empowerment Skills [YES] programme). This study aimed to estimate the clinical impact and feasibility (recruitment, retention and participant experiences) of this programme. Methods: A pilot study using mixed-methods was conducted to assess process and outcomes, involving a pre- and post-exposure assessment of glycaemic control, programme participation data, service utilisation and qualitative semi-structured interviews (analysed using Framework Analysis). Participants were recruited from two hospital diabetes centres in Southeast London. The intervention was conducted in local community centres. Participants were young people with Type 1 diabetes aged 15–21 years. The YES programme involves contact with an outreach youth worker and attending a 3-day psychologically modelled course encompassing social learning, peer facilitation and simulation exercises. The primary outcome was change in HbA1c at 6 and 12-months post-intervention. Secondary outcomes included diabetes-related hospital admissions and incident diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Results: Twenty-six young people participated in the programme, mean age 18 (±1.7) years. Uptake was 34% (n = 26) of those approached, with 96% (n = 25) programme completion. Pre-exposure (12 month mean) HbA1c was 93.5 (±29.7) mmol/mol (10.7%), and at 12 months post-exposure, it was 85.1 (±25.4) mmol/mol (10%) (P = 0.01), with 46% (n = 12) of participants achieving a reduction in their HbA1c ≥5.5 mmol/mol (0.5%). Unplanned hospital admissions and DKA rates reduced by 38 and 30%, respectively. The qualitative data identified positive psychosocial impacts including increased diabetes engagement and activation. Active ingredients were social learning, peer support and experiential learning. Participants emphasised the importance of the youth worker in engaging with the programme. Conclusion: The evaluation indicates that the YES programme helps improve young people’s self-confidence in managing diabetes, enhances diabetes engagement and improves clinical outcomes.

Municipal community centers as healthy settings: evaluation of a real-world health promotion intervention in Jerusalem

BackgroundThis study presents an intervention designed to foster the implementation of health promotion programs within District Municipality Community Centers (DMCCs) in Jerusalem, and the creation of a peer network of healthy settings with a shared aspiration of collaborating and implementing health-promoting policies at the community level. We also present the evaluation strategy, based on the EQUIHP and RE-AIM frameworks.MethodsTwenty DMCCs completed our program. This evaluation research involved a comprehensive seminar during the first year for DMCCs coordinators, teaching them the principles of health promotion. An educational kit was distributed during the second year. The evaluation strategy included a process evaluation and annual evaluations based on the EQUIHP and RE-AIM frameworks. The EQUIHP tool was divided into four dimensions of evaluation: 1) Framework of health promotion principles, 2) Project development and implementation, 3) Project management, and 4) Sustainability; while the RE-AIM domains included: 1)Reach, 2)Effectiveness, 3)Adoption, 4)Implementation and 5)Maintenance.ResultsThe program led to high responsiveness among DMCCs and to the implementation of diverse health promotion initiatives, with a participation of approximately 29,191 residents. The EQUIHP evaluation showed an improvement in program quality in Year 2. The final RE-AIM evaluation presented a total median score of 0.61 for all domains, where 0 was non-performance and 1.0 was full performance. The ‘Framework of health promotion principles’ and ‘Reach’ components received the highest median score (0.83, 1.0 and 0.87), while the ‘Sustainability and ‘Maintenance’ components received the lowest (0.5).ConclusionsThis innovative program adapts the Healthy Cities approach (initiated by the World Health Organization in 1986) to the development of community center health-promoting settings within the larger municipal framework, training local community center staff members to assess and address local health concerns and build community capacity. The local focus and efforts may help community actors to create health promotion programs more likely to be adopted, feasible in the ‘real-world’ and able to produce public health impact in the communities where people live. Moreover, collaboration and cooperation among DMCCs may lead to a broader community health vision, forging coalitions that can advocate more powerfully for health promotion.Trial registrationNIH trial registration number: NCT04470960.Retrospectively registered on: 14/07/2020.

Examining relationships between positive and adverse childhood experiences with physical and mental health indicators in a low-income adult sample

BackgroundEmerging research on positive and adverse childhood experiences (PCEs and ACEs) indicates that both may be important to adult health, but little is understood about the pathways through which childhood experiences affect adult health. ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to 1) examine how shame may mediate the relationship between childhood experiences and health, and 2) whether PCEs moderated the relationship between ACEs, shame, and adult health. Participants and settingThe sample consisted of 206 low-income adults ages 18–55 who were living in a community in the Intermountain West. MethodsParticipants were recruited at a local food bank and community center where various services for low-income residents were offered. Each participant completed a 15–20-minute survey. The data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. ResultsShame mediated the relationship between both ACEs and PCEs with depression in the expected direction. Among participants with low-to-moderate PCEs, ACEs were directly associated with shame and tobacco usage. Among participants with high PCEs, ACEs were not associated with shame, depression, nor stress, and the relationship between ACEs and tobacco usage was attenuated. ConclusionShame may be an important pathway through which childhood experiences affect adult health. Additionally, promoting high levels of PCEs may mitigate the negative effects of early adversity on adult health.

Perspectives of women of refugee background on healthcare needs in a major urban metropolitan community in the US: A qualitative needs assessment.

The objective of this study was to describe the healthcare needs and experiences of women of refugee background in Chicago-home to one of the largest and most diverse refugee populations in the United States. We used a phenomenological study design with a desire-centered rather than damage-centered approach to conduct a series of focus group discussions with 24 women of refugee background in their native languages in Chicago, Illinois between December 2018 and February 2019. Convenience sampling was used to recruit women of refugee background at least 18 years of age living in the Chicago metropolitan area who attended educational women's health workshops at local refugee community centers. An inductive approach to the analysis was used to code transcripts and generate themes. Our study identified four major healthcare priorities for women of refugee background in a major metropolitan area: (1) central and centralised healthcare, (2) continuity of care, (3) trauma-informed care and (4) community engagement and partnerships. The healthcare priorities identified by the participants in this study should inform existing and future healthcare models and clinics providing care for women of refugee background in urban and sub-urban contexts across the United States.

초고령 노인의 성공적 노화 관점에 기반한 경로당 참여경험에 관한 질적사례연구

This research purposed to understand the successful ageing experienced by super aged people through activities using Senior Centres which are social welfare facilities placed in near their residences. also, this research aims to understand suggestions of super aged people for Senior Centers development in social service practices and policies. This research was performed in a qualitative case study approach which is presented by Stake (1985). Research participants were 17 super older people who were over 80 aged people living in M city, M-gun, H-gun in Julanam-do. They had an in-depth individual interview. The Following 2 research themes were generated from the data analysis. First, super aged people could achieve successful ageing with functional, self-directed, and longer life in vigorous living community constructed in Senior Clubs. Second, super older people suggested to expand social welfare services and enlarge the function of Senior Cent res as local community centers. In conclusion, this research suggested to activate the Senior Centers to provide social welfare services to super aged people who have lower level of social activity for successful ageing and develop Senior Centers as a central service center interpreting community welfare services.

Mental Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Women Receiving the Comprehensive Social Security Allowance in Hong Kong.

Welfare recipients were often considered the least deserving of COVID-related support. Despite the recent attention paid to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, few studies have explored the mental distress experienced by welfare recipients. This cross-sectional study on female Comprehensive Social Security Allowance recipients in Hong Kong aimed to explore their level of mental distress and its association with a range of risk factors specific to welfare recipients. Hence, 316 valid cases from a local community center responded to our online survey. We found that 52.3%, 23.4%, and 78% of the participants showed moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, respectively. A higher level of mental distress was associated with having a psychiatric diagnosis, poorer social, and greater concerns over disciplining children, the living environment, daily expenses and being infected by COVID-19. Unexpectedly, being married, having a permanent residence, and having a job were not significant protective factors for this group. The models explained 45.5%, 44.6%, and 52.5% of the overall variance in the level of depression, anxiety, and stress (p < 0.01), respectively. Our findings have important implications for supporting female welfare recipients during a public health crisis and may help frontline staff and professionals provide prompt assistance to this group in need.

Children’s walking to urban services: an analysis of pedestrian access to social infrastructures and its relationship with land use

The conceptual framework of child-friendly cities guarantees children’s equal access to public urban services. Despite the widespread application of geographical information systems (GISs) and pedestrian network analysis, studies have yet to analyze children’s comprehensive pedestrian access to urban services in a large-scale city. This study demonstrates GIS-based approaches to measuring children’s pedestrian access to urban services using a pedestrian path layer and the spatial layers of social infrastructure locations in Seoul, South Korea. We show the spatial inequities in children’s access to urban services, which depend on the locational characteristics of social infrastructures and the urban development patterns around children. We analyze how children’s access to social infrastructures is differentiated by land use composition. Our statistical analysis finds that low-rise residential areas, consisting of impermeable street patterns, increase children’s walking distance and restrict children from accessing urban services within their walkable area. In addition, there is potential for key infrastructures such as schools and local community centers to promote pedestrian access to urban services for children. Considering pedestrian access at the street level will help pinpoint vulnerable areas with children who have less access overall and maximize the users served within the service areas of infrastructures.

The career and realisations of a global surgeon

36-year-old Miriam told me she first noticed a change in her right breast two years ago. There was a firmness in the upper outer por- tion of her breast. She thought nothing of it, since it was not stopping her from going about her daily work. Faced with the demands of car- ing for five children, in addition to the daily two-hour commute from her village to sell cassava roots in the nearby township of Ijebu-Jesa in Osun State, Nigeria, taking time out to have her breast examined was not an option. While there was a women’s health clinic at the local community centre, the resident doctor had recently left for the United Kingdom (UK), and Miriam was not sure if they would see her for this problem. Visiting a private doctor would cost her two months’ worth of income. Almost no one she knew had health insurance; in fact, most had not heard it existed.

An initial evaluation of narrative exposure therapy as a treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder among Sudanese refugees in Cairo, delivered by lay counselors

BackgroundThe growing worldwide refugee crisis highlights the needs for increased access to mental health services, including in the large urban cities in the Middle East to which refugees are frequently displaced and in which access to such services is limited. The current study offers an initial evaluation of narrative exposure therapy as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder among Sudanese refugees in Cairo, delivered by lay counselors. Sudanese refugees with no prior background in counseling were given 27 h of training in narrative exposure therapy. They then delivered this to seven members of the same refugee community with a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder at a local community center, and this was evaluated using a pre-post design and a focus-group with the intervention recipients.ResultsDespite the small sample size, over the course of the intervention there was significant decrease in trauma and anxiety symptoms, and a close to significant decrease in depression. Moreover, the focus group participants generally spoke positively about their experiences.ConclusionsTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the viability of lay counselors delivering narrative exposure therapy to refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder in a complex urban setting. The findings suggest that this approach has promise and support the case for a randomized control trial of narrative exposure therapy delivered in this manner in such a setting.

Association of Thigh Circumference with Physical Fitness and Fall Efficacy in Elderly Women with Osteopenia/Osteoporosis

PURPOSE This study investigated the associations between physical fitness and fall efficacy with thigh circumference in elderly women with osteopenia/osteoporosis.METHODS A total of 166 female participants aged 76.3±5.0 years with –1.0≥T-score of femur neck bone mineral density were voluntarily recruited from local community centers. The participants were classified as low 25%, middle 50%, and high 25% groups based on their thigh circumference. Physical fitness measurements, including strength, flexibility, aerobic endurance, and balance were measured with a standardized protocol. The Korean version of the fall efficacy scale (K-FES) was used to assess fall efficacy. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odd ratio (OR) of poor physical fitness and low fall efficacy according to thigh circumference levels.RESULTS In terms of physical fitness, the middle 50% group (OR=0.430, 95% CI=0.194-0.953) and high 25% group (OR=0.129, 95% CI=0.049-0.343) had significantly higher linear trend for poor physical fitness compared to the low 25% group (reference), (p&lt;0.001). In fall efficacy, the middle 50% group (OR=0.279, 95% CI=0.119-0.656) and high 25% group (OR=0.100, 95% CI=0.036-0.275) had significantly higher linear trend for low fall efficacy compared to the low 25% group (reference) (p&lt;0.001).CONCLUSIONS The current findings suggest that maintaining high thigh circumference via regular physical activity and diet may contribute to attenuation of decreased risk for poor physical fitness and low fall efficacy in elderly women with osteopenia/osteoporosis.

A Qualitative Assessment of Community Learning Initiatives for Environmental Awareness and Behaviour Change: Applying UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Framework

This study uses qualitative research methods of text mining to elucidate the potential and prospects for community-based learning opportunities for raising environmental awareness and bringing about healthy behaviour change among university students and local residents. In particular, we focus on the importance of community-based learning in raising environmental awareness and inspiring action to support healthy living and harmony with nature. The three groups were triangulated using semi-structured questionnaires to model the ways in which education for sustainable development (ESD) can contribute to the promotion of environmental education in local communities. In order to collect in-depth data, the authors themselves were present at the study sites and collected textual data based on semi-structured questionnaires in a participatory observation framework, where they had a common experience to understand the observations. Analysis was carried out using NVivo12. The two community learning initiatives studied were in Okayama and Tokyo, which are leading ESD policy areas. The two case studies are both university student-led projects that aim to raise environmental awareness in local communities through environmentally conscious behaviour change and the creation of a foundation for healthy living. This study focuses on “youth” and “community” among the five priority areas proposed in the 2015 ESD report and discusses the potential and prospects for community learning initiatives and the triggering of the nudge effect on environmentally conscious behaviour change and health behaviours. The results of the textual analysis with triangulation show that, while policymakers and teachers and leaders driving the initiative acknowledge the importance of ESD in a comprehensive way, their attention is more focused on the design of specific projects and curricula. In contrast, university students engaged in ESD activities rated the social education facilities (local community centres, community learning centres) as “lively” and “motivating”. It was found that there are high expectations for “public living rooms”, which are important as a base for learning to promote healthy and sustainable communities and environmentally conscious behaviour change.

Effect of Nutrition Education on the Vegetable Intake of Residents in Okinawa.

Background: Increasing vegetable intake is recommended for promoting health in communities. This study investigated the effects of nutrition education on vegetable intake and the factors associated with changes in vegetable intake among residents of Okinawa. Methods and Results: Subjects (n=1,345; mean [±SD] age 56.8±14.6 years; 40.5% male) were recruited from among local residents participating in the Yui Kenko Project. Subjects completed the brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) and questionnaires on socioeconomic demographics and social capital. Subjects were divided into 2 groups according to residential area, namely south Okinawa (n=679), where local health promotion activities have been undertaken since the early 2000s, and central Okinawa (n=666). Survey results were fed back to each subject, and health lectures were then conducted at local community centers. After 1 year, the BDHQ was repeated to investigate changes in vegetable and nutritional parameters. After the intervention, residents of south Okinawa increased their crude and energy-adjusted vegetable intake (P<0.05), whereas residents of central Okinawa showed decreased vegetable intake (P<0.05). Univariable and multivariable regression models indicated that, in south Okinawa, participation in local health promotion activities and agreement with general trust were positively correlated with changes in energy-adjusted vegetable intake, whereas in central Okinawa no correlations were observed. Conclusions: The status of social capital should be taken into account when implementing initiatives to increase vegetable intake in communities.

Superpixel segmentation algorithm based on local network modularity increment

Superpixel segmentation is a kind of image preprocessing technology and a popular research direction in image processing. The purpose of superpixel segmentation is to reduce the complexity of image processing. The most widely applied Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) superpixel segmentation algorithm has high operating efficiency. However, under-segmentation is prone to occur when the number of given superpixel regions is too small. In order to improve the segmentation accuracy, the superpixel segmentation algorithm based on local network modularity increment (LocalNet) from the perspective of network community detection is proposed here. The adjacency network is constructed according to the colour similarity of image pixels, the local community centre is found by the degree of network nodes, and the local network structure of the community is constructed. The modularity increment is employed as the boundary constraint to improve the segmentation accuracy of superpixel segmentation. Through the experimental comparison with the SLIC algorithm, its improved algorithm, and the algorithm proposed in recent years, the results show that our LocalNet algorithm significantly improves in segmentation accuracy Furthermore, the segmentation effect has obvious advantages under the premise that the segmentation speed is not much different from that of the other five algorithms.

Older adults benefit from a new community-based physical activity programme

ABSTRACT Flow and balance (FAB) is a non-pharmaceutical leisure-time physical activity programme, known as a common health practice for older adults in Korea. It comprises a series of coordinated dance routines, including breathing, balancing, and tapping motions performed on Korean folk music. This study explored a range of experiential characteristics associated with exercising FAB. We used in-depth interviews with older adults (n = 9) from a local community centre in a southern state of the USA who had attended a FAB programme for eight months. The data were coded and analyzed using constant comparison method. The following three themes emerged as a result of the analyses, that is, the uniqueness of the programme; its benefits for physical/mental health and social connectedness; and its role in later-life learning. We suggest that FAB is a practical and broadly applicable leisure-time physical activity for a community setting.

A feasibility study of training in a local community aimed upon health promotion with special emphasis on musculoskeletal health effects

Background: To minimize fracture risk, multimodal training regimens are recommended. However, their effectiveness in community settings remains uncertain. This study evaluated the feasibility of 19-weeks of multimodal training in a local community center with emphasis on musculoskeletal health in postmenopausal women. Methods: In a controlled trial, 28 postmenopausal women (53-68-years-old) were assigned to a multimodal training group (MMT, n=15) or a control group (CON, n=13). The training consisted of high- and odd-impact, resistance and balance-coordination training 1-2 hours weekly. The outcomes were attendance rate, regional and total bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), bone turnover markers (BTM), body composition, functional muscle strength and power, and dynamic balance. All were determined at baseline and after 19 weeks of training. BTM was assessed after three weeks. Results: Overall, 22(79%) participants (MMT, n=9; CON, n=13) completed the study, and the mean attendance rate for MMT was 65.5% of the maximum sessions (2) offered. Only right trochanter BMD increased (p&lt;0.05) by 1.0±1.1% in MMT, which was higher(p&lt;0.05) than CON. While whole-body BMC was not changed at 19 weeks from baseline in MMT, it decreased (p&lt;0.05) in CON resulting in a significant difference (p&lt;0.05) in whole-body BMC delta values between the two groups. Compared to baseline, body fat percentage(%BF), fat mass(FM), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT)-mass and -volume were decreased (p&lt;0.01) in MMT, and were larger (p&lt;0.05) than CON. No significant changes were observed in BTM, muscle strength and power, and dynamic balance after 19 weeks. Conclusions: Nineteen weeks of multimodal training 1-2 hours per week in a local community had a health-enhancing effect on %BF, FM, and VAT, whereas the musculoskeletal health impact was modest. We hypothesize that the reason might be too low training volume and frequency and supposedly too low musculoskeletal training intensity for some participants. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05164679 (21/12/2021).