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WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS

The Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery (SHARP) study aims to preserve African American cognitive health through neighborhood walking and social engagement in a way that celebrates Black culture. For 6 months, African Americans aged 55+ (2016 n=19; 2017 n=21) grouped in tri...

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Autores principales: Towns, Juell, Fuller, Patrice, Francois, Edline, Croff, Raina L, Kaye, Jeffrey
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6840360/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1907
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author Towns, Juell
Fuller, Patrice
Francois, Edline
Croff, Raina L
Kaye, Jeffrey
author_facet Towns, Juell
Fuller, Patrice
Francois, Edline
Croff, Raina L
Kaye, Jeffrey
author_sort Towns, Juell
collection PubMed
description The Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery (SHARP) study aims to preserve African American cognitive health through neighborhood walking and social engagement in a way that celebrates Black culture. For 6 months, African Americans aged 55+ (2016 n=19; 2017 n=21) grouped in triads walked 1-mile routes accessible via the SHARP application. Routes included historical image prompts about Portland, Oregon’s historically Black neighborhoods. Participant focus groups at months 1, 3, and 6 drove program development and refinements, and provided valuable insight into the program’s meaning for participants. Discussions were thematically coded. Emergent themes included “suggested improvements,” “technology,” “mental health impact,” “cultural incongruence,” and “cultural significance.” Participants suggested improvements to the application’s navigational aspects and expressed willingness to engage technology despite initial apprehension. The triadic structure and place-based memory prompts aided reminiscence, allowing participants to make meaningful links between their own life experiences and their walking partners’. Neighborhood walking brought to the surface participant concerns about a lack of understanding between African American generations, and between long-time residents and whiter, wealthier demographics moving in. Some participants found it emotionally taxing to walk in the now gentrified historically Black neighborhoods, but still saw the program overall as useful, interesting, and necessary--to their physical and cognitive health, to their mental health as they processed neighborhood changes and community loss, and as an important contribution to preserving community history. Addressing individual health alongside pressing issues affecting older African Americans’ sense of well-being and community may make cognitive health programs more meaningful and applicable.
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spelling pubmed-68403602019-11-14 WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS Towns, Juell Fuller, Patrice Francois, Edline Croff, Raina L Kaye, Jeffrey Innov Aging Session 2400 (Poster) The Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery (SHARP) study aims to preserve African American cognitive health through neighborhood walking and social engagement in a way that celebrates Black culture. For 6 months, African Americans aged 55+ (2016 n=19; 2017 n=21) grouped in triads walked 1-mile routes accessible via the SHARP application. Routes included historical image prompts about Portland, Oregon’s historically Black neighborhoods. Participant focus groups at months 1, 3, and 6 drove program development and refinements, and provided valuable insight into the program’s meaning for participants. Discussions were thematically coded. Emergent themes included “suggested improvements,” “technology,” “mental health impact,” “cultural incongruence,” and “cultural significance.” Participants suggested improvements to the application’s navigational aspects and expressed willingness to engage technology despite initial apprehension. The triadic structure and place-based memory prompts aided reminiscence, allowing participants to make meaningful links between their own life experiences and their walking partners’. Neighborhood walking brought to the surface participant concerns about a lack of understanding between African American generations, and between long-time residents and whiter, wealthier demographics moving in. Some participants found it emotionally taxing to walk in the now gentrified historically Black neighborhoods, but still saw the program overall as useful, interesting, and necessary--to their physical and cognitive health, to their mental health as they processed neighborhood changes and community loss, and as an important contribution to preserving community history. Addressing individual health alongside pressing issues affecting older African Americans’ sense of well-being and community may make cognitive health programs more meaningful and applicable. Oxford University Press 2019-11-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6840360/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1907 Text en © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Session 2400 (Poster)
Towns, Juell
Fuller, Patrice
Francois, Edline
Croff, Raina L
Kaye, Jeffrey
WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
title WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
title_full WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
title_fullStr WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
title_full_unstemmed WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
title_short WALKING AND TALKING ABOUT WHAT USED TO BE: THE SHARP NEIGHBORHOOD WALKING PROGRAM FOR OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS
title_sort walking and talking about what used to be: the sharp neighborhood walking program for older african americans
topic Session 2400 (Poster)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6840360/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1907
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