Aging and Diversity Lab (ADL)

Welcome

Welcome to the Aging and Diversity Lab (ADL) in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The ADL is coordinated by Dr. Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko and Dr. Andiara Schwingel, and has its focus on the study of aging across the lifespan and population diversity.

The mission of the ADL is to study the process that leads to healthy aging, optimizing wellbeing and independence as people age. Our mission is also to understand the cultural context in which people live in order to promote healthy communities across various social groups.

Research

In this research group, we are conducting studies that examine the impact of healthy lifestyle behaviors on the aging process.

Cultural Perspectives on Physical Activity among Older Latina Women

This research project proposes to examine the ways in which the socio-cultural context impacts the health behavior of older Latinas, in particular, seeking to analyze barriers and facilitators to physical activity participation in aging minorities. The main purpose of the study is to increase our understanding of the factors that contribute to physical activity decisions among older Latina women. Specifically, using a mixed methods design, our goal is to explore perceptions, attitudes and values about physical activity in older Latina adults. We will do this by investigating: (1) older Latina adults’ understanding and awareness of the term physical activity; (2) their interpretation of the socio-cultural contexts in which they chose (or chose not) to be physically active; and (3) their visualization of physical activity opportunities and barriers in their local environment.

This study will, for the first time, use accelerometers and photo elicitation techniques to explore how physically active and sedentary Latina older women view physical activity. Photo elicitation is a research technique that invites participants to take photographs of salient features in their lives that are both personally meaningful and possess significant explanatory power. The overall goal of our research agenda is to increase our understanding of how Latina’s conceptualize physical activity with the ultimate goal of increasing the physical activity levels in this population.

New Age

New AGE is a design program for developing therapeutic recreational facilities in conjunction with attractive greenscapes. The concept originated within the green industry where recreation areas are designed for golf courses and sports fields. While community park and recreation areas are often targeted to teenagers and young adults, the New AGE program is specifically focused on improving the health and quality of life of older adults who are living independently, in retirement communities, or in convalescent facilities, providing a green alternative to indoor health clubs and physical therapy settings.

The New AGE concept is significantly advanced beyond the historical design of parks.

• Each facility will provide an enriched environment that is designed to maximize the physical well being of aging adults.
• Facilities should be friendly, attractive, green environments that provide opportunities for strengthening, stretching and flexing, and cardiovascular conditioning.
• The design, building, and testing of active green environments requires a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing the expertise of horticulturists, landscape architects, environmental engineers, health care professionals, and kinesiologists.

Photos of the New AGE in Clark Lindsey Village (Urbana, IL, USA) . Launched on 22 September 2008.

Active Aging News

Active Aging News is a forum on the Active Aging Community Center (AACC) website. AACC is an online community hosted by the publishing company Human Kinetics for, about, and by researchers and practitioners in the active aging field around the world. The AACC helps researchers and practitioners in the active aging field to further their work and facilitate the sharing and discussion of active aging issues. The ultimate goal is to help professionals advance their study of active aging and enhance the delivery of services to older adults. The Active Aging News allows researchers and other aging professionals to stay informed about the current aging news around the world. News and information come from researchers and practitioners from around the world, and anyone in the field is invited to contribute information and participate in discussions. Andiara Schwingel and Grace Trevarthen, members of the Aging and Diversity Lab, work together with Human Kinetics to recruit and edit News to be published on the website. The web address to view all of the published articles is: http://www.humankinetics.com/aaccnews.

New Technology Project

The main purpose of the New Technology project is to understand how older adults interact with new technologies and to develop a new technology adoption/acceptance model for older adults. Ultimately we are seeking to investigate the possible impact of new technology for improving older adults' quality of life. We are currently exploring four different categories of technology to understand this interaction in more detail. Our research explores such factors as effectiveness, adjustment, reasons for use, and the subjective meaning of new technologies to older adults.

Cross-campus Bike Project

The 'Cross-campus Bike Project' is based on the internationally-acclaimed public health program known as the "white bike" project, initially developed in the Netherlands, which provides "public-access" bicycles for short distance transportation as a healthier, more environmentally-friendly alternative to private automobile transportation (Unwin, 1995). This project is designed to assess the degree to which faculty and staff would be willing to use bicycles to move about the University of Illinois campus in the conduction of their university duties in an attempt to reduce their dependence on personal motor vehicles.

Healthy Moves

The Healthy Moves program is an evidence-based intervention program that consists of two major components:

• a simple physical activity intervention modeled and adapted from the Senior Fitness Test work of Rikli and Jones (1999)
• a lifestyle behavior change counseling method called Brief Negotiation that was developed by behavior change experts Prohaska and DiClemente (1983).

The integration of these two simple but effective approaches into a single, behaviorally-based intervention is highly consistent with recent research recommendations and greatly increases the likelihood of the older adult participants in the program adopting a more active lifestyle.

The objective of the project is to assess the feasibility of implementing simple, safe, non-equipment evidence-based movements (Healthy Moves for Aging Well program) using an affordable and sustainable homecare-aide based delivery model that reaches the maximum possible number of frail older adults living at home in Illinois.

Publications

• Chodzko-Zajko, W., Proctor, D.N., Fiatarone Singh, M.A., Minson, C.T., Nigg, C.R., Salem, G.J. and Skinner, J.S. (2009) ACSM Position Stand: Exercise and Physical Activity for Older Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41 (7), 1510-1530.
• Schwingel, A., Niti, M., Tang, C. and Ng, P.N. (2009) Continued work employment and volunteerism and mental well-being of older adults: Singapore longitudinal ageing studies. Age and Ageing, 1-7.
• Chodzko-Zajko, WJ, Kramer, AK, Poon LW (2009). Enhancing Cognitive Functioning and Brain Plasticity, Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, IL.
• Chodzko-Zajko, W., Schwingel, A. (2009) Transnational Strategies for the Promotion of Physical Activity and Active Aging: The World Health Organization Model of Consensus Building in International Public Health, Quest, 61, 25-38.
• Chodzko-Zajko, W., Schwingel, A., Park, C. H. (2009). Successful Aging: The Role of Physical Activity, American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine 3:20-28.
• Park, C., Malavasi, L. M., Liles, C., Page, P., Park, E., Rogers, M., Senior, J., Zhou, L., Ory, M., Chodzko-Zajko, W. J. (2008). National Blueprint report: strategies for integrating physical activity into wellness programming for older adults. Journal on Active Aging, vol. 7(2), 66–75.
• Resnick, B., Ory, M. G., Hora, K., Rogers, M. E., Page, P., Bolin, J. N., Lyle, R. M., Sipe, C., Chodzko-Zajko, W. J. (2008). A proposal for a new screening paradigm and a tool called Exercise abd Assessment and Screening for You (EASY). Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 16, 2, 215–233.
• Benedetti, T. B., Petroski, E. L., Nassar, S. M., Schwingel, A., Chodzko-Zajko, W. (2008). Aging in Brazil: physical activity, socioeconomic conditions and diseases among older adults in Southern Brazil, Journal of Applied Gerontology.
• Park, C.; Malavasi, L. M., Wen, H., Sheppard, L., Beattie, L., Chow, R., Firman, J., Jahnke, R., Rosengren, K., Yang, Y., Chodzko-Zajko, W. (2007). Qi Gong and Tai Chi: Strategies for Developing and Implementing Community-based Programs for Older adults. In: American College of Sports Medicine, 2007, New Orleans. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. New Orleans : ACSM v. 39. p. S420.
• Park, C.; Malavasi, L. M. ; Wen, H. ; Sheppard, L.; Beattie, L.; Chow, R.; Firman, J.; Jahnke, R.; Rosengren, K. ; Yang, Y. ; Chodzko-Zajko, W. (2007). Based Programs to Enhance Healthy Aging. In: Healthy Aging Research Network Symposium, 2007, Seattle. Effective Community-Based Physical Activity Programs for Older Adults. Seattle: HARNS, p. 16.
• Schwingel, A, Chodzko-Zajko, W. J. (2007). Qualidade de Vida e Atividade Física para a Terceira Idade no Japão. Revista Brasileira de Cineantropometria & Desempenho Humano (IX SIAFT), v.9. p.S35–S37, 2007. (In portuguese)
• Schwingel, A., Nakata, Y., Ito, L. S., Chodzko-Zajko, W. J., Shigematsu, R., Erb, C. T., Oba-Shinjo, S. M., Matsuo, T., Shinjo, S. K., Uno, M., Marie, S. K. N., Tanaka, K. (2007). A comparison of the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its components among native Japanese and Japanese Brazilians residing in Japan and Brazil, European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation, v.14, p. 508–514.
• Chodzko-Zajko, W. J., Beattie, L., Chow, R., Firman, J., Jahnke, R., Park CH., Rosengren, K., Sheppard, L., Yang, Y. (2006). Qi Gong and Tai Chi: Promoting practices that promote healthy aging., Active Aging, September, pp 51–56.
• Chodzko-Zajko, W., Sheppard, L., Senior, J., Park, C. H., Mockenhaupt, R., Bazzarre, T. (2005). The USA national strategic plan for promoting physical activity in the mid-life and older adult population: A four-year progress report on the National Blueprint, Quest., 57, 3–13.
• Cress, M. E., Buchner, D. M., Prohaska, T., Rimmer, J., Brown, M., Macera, C., DiPietro, L., Chodzko-Zajko, W. (2004). Physical activity programs and behavior counseling in older adult populations, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 3611, 1997–2003.
• Sheppard, L., Senior, J., Park, C. H., Mockenhaupt, R., Chodzko-Zajko, W. J., Bazzarre, T. (2003). The National Blueprint Consensus Conference Summary Report. Strategic Priorities for Increasing Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 50 and Older, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25,209–213.
• Chodzko-Zajko, W. J. (2000). Successful Aging in the New Millennium—The Role of Regular Physical Activity, Quest, 52, 333–343.

Lab Members

Faculty

• Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko
• Andiara Schwingel

Graduate Students

• Leticia Malavasi
• Kyongo Kim
• Salva Najib
• Emily Parrott

Undergraduate Students

• Betsy Trevarthen
• Mittal Patel
• Steffanie Bezruki
• Yvette Castaneda
• Blake Lindley
• Valerie Kramer

Visiting Scholars

• Hong Jun Yu (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China)

Alumni (Visiting Scholars/Students/Collaborators)

• Alina Żurek (University of Wrocław, Poland), 2009
• Vicente Romo (University of Vigo, Spain), 2009
• Chae Hee Park (South Korea), 2002–2008
• Grzegorz Zurek (University School of Physical Education in Wrocław, Poland), 2007 and 2009
• Jonneke Kroes (Netherlands), 2007
• Wei-Jue Huang (Taiwan), 2006–2007
• Lan-Jun Zhou (China), 2007–2008
• Euyoung Park (South Korea), 2007
• Joana Aguiar Sousa (Portugal), 2006

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Join the Lab

Undergraduate and Graduate students with an interest in aging and/or diversity are encouraged to pursue the opportunities available for research in our lab.

Meetings

Aging and Diversity Lab meets every week, on xx from x:xx to x:xx pm at xx (Spring 2010 schedule to be decided).

Contact us

Aging and Diversity Lab
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
117 Louise Freer Hall
906 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Office Phone: 217-24 40823/ 48520
Email: adl@ahs.illinois.edu

Photos

Links

• National Blueprint
• New AGE