Active for Life Grantees

"There have been more years added to life expectancy in the last century than from all recorded time," comments Active for Life director Marcia Ory, Ph.D. " At Active for Life, we hope to help mid-life and older people become and remain physically active throughout their lifespan."

"Research shows that much of the illness, disability and death associated with chronic disease is avoidable through known prevention measures including regular physical activity, healthy eating, and avoiding tobacco use, as well as the uses of early detection practices such as screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, diabetes and its complications and depression," says Ory. "The risk of chronic diseases and disability certainly increases with advancing age, but poor health does not have to be an inevitable consequence of aging."

AFL Grantee Locations

The Active for Life program is funding grants to nine organizations throughout the United States to support implementation and evaluation of two model programs aimed at increasing physical activity in mid-life and older Americans. It is hoped that the outcomes will lead to knowledge about how to make the two model programs more effective in helping individuals make changes in their lives, but also to learn how the Active for Life program can be incorporated into existing community organizations' initiatives on an ongoing basis. Long-term sustainability issues will be a critical measure of success for the program.

The interventions being used in the program are:

• Active Choices, a telephone-based program developed by The Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention and
  
• Active Living Every Day, a group-based program developed by The Cooper Institute and Human Kinetics Publisher's, Inc.

Funding for the initiative is provided by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"The Active for Life program strives to help people incorporate healthy lifestyle changes into their daily lives. It's not enough to simply give people information," Active for Life deputy director Diane Dowdy, Ph.D. remarks. "Studies show that people are aware of the risks of poor health practices and for the most part they know what they should be doing. The challenge is to help people actually make and maintain the changes."