Optimizing health through education: The Adaptive Health Education on Activity and Diet (AHEAD) program.

Only 26 people completed the preintervention survey, 14 completed the postintervention survey, and 10 completed the follow-up survey, so the findings come from a small group with substantial dropout. There was no control group, so the changes cannot be attributed to the workshop alone. The participants were already members of an adaptive sports program at a rehabilitation hospital and were likely more engaged and physically active than people with disabilities who are not already in such programs. Outcomes were self-reported through electronic surveys and relied on memory, with no physical assessment of function, so recall bias may affect the results. The group included multiple disability diagnoses, which made it difficult to personalize recommendations. The virtual format may have limited safety monitoring during exercise demonstrations, and attendance was logged during live sessions but not for later viewing. The thresholds the authors used for a meaningful change in physical function and physical activity were borrowed from other studies and populations. Some improvements were seen only immediately after the intervention and were not sustained at follow-up.

One author, Dr Jayabalan, receives support from the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at Northwestern University, National Institute on Aging. All authors declare nothing to disclose.

Do not conclude that this workshop is proven to improve health for adaptive athletes. It was a small single-arm pilot with no control group, only 10 people completed the follow-up survey, and some gains were not sustained.