Conditions and strategies influencing sustainability of a community-based exercise program incorporating a healthcare-community partnership for people with balance and mobility limitations in Canada: A collective case study of the Together in Movement and Exercise (TIME™) program.
Gayatri Aravind, Ian D Graham, Jill I Cameron and 2 others
PMID 36923967WHAT IT FOUND
Sustained community exercise programs had aligned organizational goals, stable resources, clear community need, strong referral partners, and motivated staff.
Discontinued sites tried to fix gaps but could not keep programs running. Ongoing access was linked to these conditions.
Key findings
0110 conditions influenced sustainability across 8 sites, including sustained and discontinued programs.
02Participants in sustained programs perceived their strategies as effective for continuity, while participants in discontinued programs said strategies failed to prevent discontinuation.
03The research team created questions to help organizations foresee challenges and plan for sustainability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 28 individuals from 8 sites, so it is a small set of experiences rather than a broad survey of programs. All sites were urban or suburban and were located in Ontario and British Columbia, so the findings may not fit rural programs or programs in other provinces. The study examined sustainability, not whether the exercise program improved balance, mobility, function, or stroke outcomes. The findings cannot show which single condition or strategy caused a site to continue or stop, because multiple organizational, community, and staffing factors were involved.
Declared interests
The project was funded by Brain Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery. An author held a Heart and Stroke Foundation award and a chair at the University of Toronto.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the exercise program improves balance or mobility, or that copying these strategies will guarantee a program survives. It describes stakeholder views from 8 sites and cannot separate which conditions or actions caused sustainability.