Adapting an Effective Health-Promoting Intervention—Choose to Move—for Chinese Older Adults in Canada

Abstract

Evidence is sparse on how community-based health-promoting programs can be culturally adapted for racially minoritized, immigrant older adult populations. Choose to Move (CTM) is an evidence-based health-promoting program that enhances physical activity and mobility and diminished social isolation and loneliness in older adults in British Columbia, Canada. However, racially minoritized older adults were not reached in initial offerings. We purposively sampled CTM delivery staff (n = 8) from three not-for-profit organizations, in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, that serve Chinese older adults. We used semistructured interviews, ethnographic observations, and meeting minutes to understand delivery staff’s perspectives on factors that influence CTM adaptations for Chinese older adults. Deductive framework analysis guided by an adaptation framework, Framework for Reporting Adaptations and Modifications-Enhanced, found three dominant cultural- and immigration-related factors influenced CTM adaptations for Chinese older adults: (a) prioritizations, (b) familiarity, and (c) literacy. Findings may influence future program development and delivery to meet the needs of racially minoritized older adult populations.