# Healthy Activity Improves Lives (HAIL)

> **NIH NIH R21** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2022 · $214,655

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Older adults (age ≥ 60 years) tend to be less physically active than younger adults, engaging in less than 11%
of recommended physical activity (PA) levels[1-3]. These trends are even lower in older individuals from Black
communities. Lack of PA in older adults is associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality, especially in
the Black population[4]. Large population-based studies suggest that moderate levels of PA provide protection
from chronic diseases in older adults[5]. Therefore, interventions aimed at improving PA in older Black adults
could significantly improve health outcomes and help to reduce health disparities among this population. To
increase PA in older, Black adults, we use the socioecological perspective[7] to examine the barriers and
facilitators at each level of influence (i.e., intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational/community,
environmental/policy). A PA intervention developed for older, Black adults that targets multiple levels of the
socioecological model is needed. The evidence-based Fit and Strong! (F&S!) program for older adults, funded
by the National Institute of Aging, can be optimized to bypass these barriers and effectively engaged older
Black adults in sustained PA. Although the F&S! program has been successfully implemented in multiple
community-based, ethnically diverse settings, it is limited because it is only offered in-person (i.e., no online
component) and ends at 8 weeks with very little ongoing support. These limitations not only increase the cost
and reduce the accessibility of the program but also fail to optimize or support gains made as improvements in
PA during F&S! diminish over the follow-up phase[8]. We will bypass these limitations and develop an adjunct,
online platform to the F&S! program that is capable of syncing with wearable devices (e.g., fitbit). To create this
platform as well as examine its feasibility and acceptability, we will partner with the Black Ministerial Alliance of
Greater Boston (BMA), an organization of predominantly Black churches, and administer the program in these
churches in Boston, MA. Consistent with this FOA “to provide support for up to two years (R21 phase) for
research planning activities and feasibility studies” we will conduct: 1) focus groups in two BMA-affiliated
churches to better understand the key barriers necessary to bypass at every level of the socioecological model
and then build this adjunct, online program to create the F&S!-Online program and 2) an open pilot study
(N=30) across these two churches to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the F&S!-Online program. Per
the FOA, the R21 will be, “followed by a possible transition to expanded research support (R33 phase) for
optimizing the intervention and conducting larger-scale feasibility studies”. Consistently, for the R33 phase, we
will conduct a larger scale feasibility study by randomizing four BMA-affiliated churches to either F&S!-Online
or the standard F&S! (N=1...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10492043
- **Project number:** 5R21AG067091-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Louisa Sylvia
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $214,655
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10492043

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10492043, Healthy Activity Improves Lives (HAIL) (5R21AG067091-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10492043. Licensed CC0.

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