Osteoarthritis is one of the most common risk factors for disability for African American older adults. Older adults who identify as African American experience more severe arthritis, higher pain levels, more pain related interference, more health problems that occur alongside arthritis, and have greater problems accessing appropriate and timely care for arthritis than other racial and ethnic groups. Physical activity can help improve pain and is safe even for older adults, but few older adults walk regularly due to pain, psychological distress, and other environmental barriers for walking. Specific strategies targeted to support older African Americans in walking more are needed. A previously tested behavioral intervention called Engage-PA has shown promise for supporting older adults with arthritis in the knee and/or hip. Yet little is know about how promising this intervention is for older African Americans, nor the specific barriers and facilitators for walking more for this population. Some specific components of Engage-PA may be particularly culturally-relevant for older African Americans, such as the use of personal values, or a detailed discussion of personally-identified meaning and purpose linked to daily walking routines. Older African Americans with arthritis and primary care providers treating arthritis at Duke Health have provided interview data to assist researchers in adapting Engage-PA to be more culturally sensitive. Adapted-Engage-PA will be tested with older African Americans who have knee and/or hip pain from osteoarthritis in a small feasibility and acceptability trial.
Physical activity like walking is one important way to reduce pain and improve wellbeing for older adults with knee and hip arthritis, but most older adults and particularly those who identify as African American struggle to walk regularly. Many African Americans with arthritis have worse outcomes (like worse pain, worse overall health) than other racial and ethnic groups for many reasons including racist policies and ideas that make getting good health care more difficult. It is therefore most important to identify ways to help older adults who identify as African American improve their arthritis pain and improve their daily steps. The current study is designed to learn about older African American's preferences for a brief behavioral intervention to increase daily steps and reduce pain, and to learn about the barriers (things that make walking harder) and facilitators (things that make walking easier) for walking that they experience. Interviews with both patients and healthcare providers will provide important information that will be used to adapt an existing behavioral intervention designed to help patients increase their daily steps and reduce their arthritis pain. The final adapted intervention will be tested in a small clinical trial with older adults who identify as African American to see if it can reduce pain and increase walking over time.