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Evaluating the Impact of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal on Physical Mobility Outcomes

Evaluating the Impact of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal on Knowledge, Behavioural Intentions and Health Behaviours Related to Physical Mobility

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02947230
Enrollment
535
Registered
2016-10-27
Start date
2017-03-07
Completion date
2018-12-31
Last updated
2020-02-21

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Mobility Limitation

Keywords

Mobility, Aging, Knowledge Translation, Physical Activity

Brief summary

The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal (the Portal) was launched in 2014 to increase public access to trustworthy health information. The Portal helps readers to access evidence-based resources; identify trustworthy messages; and understand scientific findings. Now the investigators want to know whether using the Portal changes what people know and do to stay healthy and mobile. This project will help us to: 1. Understand how middle aged and older adults (age 40+) use the Portal to obtain information about maintaining and improving mobility 2. Evaluate whether use of the Portal results in a change in knowledge about maintaining and improving mobility, or change in lifestyle behaviours that may help maintain or improve mobility with age.

Detailed description

Physically active lifestyles are important for health aging, but most Canadians do not meet published physical activity guidelines. This may be in part due to lack of access to evidence-based information on mobility and aging, and knowledge of strategies to maintain or improve mobility with age. The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal (the Portal) was launched in 2014 to increase public access to trustworthy health information. Now the investigators want to know if easy-to-understand evidence-based messages change what people know and do to stay healthy and mobile. Sequential, explanatory mixed-methods design consisting of a two-armed randomized controlled trial and a qualitative process study to explore quantitative findings in depth. Consent forms and a baseline survey will be sent to all interested participants. Following baseline data collection, participants will be stratified by previous Portal use, and randomized to the Knowledge Translation (KT) intervention or control group. During the 12-week KT intervention, intervention group participants will have access to the Portal and will receive mobility- focused weekly email alerts including blog posts and evidence summaries relevant to mobility and be invited to follow a Twitter and Facebook feed; a unique hashtag will be created to identify and collate relevant mobility information. Control group participants will be able to access the Portal in a 'self-serve' fashion, but will not receive targeted KT strategies.

Interventions

Tailored knowledge translation strategies specific to maintaining and increasing physical mobility with age.

Sponsors

McMaster University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
40 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* English-speaking

Exclusion criteria

* None

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Google analytics12 weeksUnderstanding participant engagement with the Portal and knowledge translation strategies
Website analytics12 weeksUnderstanding participant engagement with the Portal and knowledge translation strategies
Email analytics12 weeksUnderstanding participant engagement with the Portal and knowledge translation strategies

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Intentions Questionnaire12 weeks, 3 months post-interventionParticipants intentions to engage in lifestyle behaviours related to maintaining or improving mobility
Manty Preclinical Mobility Disability Scale12 weeks, 3 months post-interventionMobility limitation
Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity12 weeks, 3 months post-interventionTo quantify self-reported physical activity
Knowledge Questionnaire12 weeks, 3 months post-interventionParticipants knowledge of mobility recommendations and guidelines
Beliefs Questionnaire12 weeks, 3 months post-interventionParticipants beliefs about the importance of maintaining and improving mobility for health

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Participant satisfaction12 weeksCollected using qualitative interviews

Countries

Canada

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 21, 2026