Achievement of Exercise Objectives and Satisfaction with the Walk with Ease Program—Group and Self-Directed Participants

Purpose. This study presents group (instructor-led) and self-directed (nongroup) participant achievement of exercise objectives and satisfaction with the Arthritis Foundation's Walk With Ease (WWE) program at 6 weeks postintervention and 1-year follow-up. Design. Secondary data analysis. Setting. Rural and urban counties in North Carolina. Subjects. Four hundred sixty-two adults with self-reported joint pain/stiffness or physician-diagnosed arthritis, age ≥ 18 years, no serious medical condition, no cognitive impairments, English speaking. Intervention. WWE is a 6-week community-based walking program offered in two formats—group and self-directed. Measures. Self-report measures collected at baseline, 6 weeks, and 1 year. Analysis. Descriptive statistics, χ2 and t-tests. Results. Individuals self-selected either group (n = 192) or self-directed (n = 270) format. On average, participants were age 67, Caucasian (70%), and female (88%). Mean minutes per walk increased from 16.7 at baseline to 34.2 minutes at 1 year among group participants, and from 16.5 to 33.7 minutes among self-directed. At 1 year, 59.6% of group and 69.3% of self-directed participants reported continued walking (p = .06). Group participants were more likely than self-directed to do recommended stretching (p < .02) and warm-up/cool-down exercises (p < .01). Conclusion. Group and self-directed participants have similar self-reported walking outcomes but have some differences in their utilization of WWE recommendations.