Part of the SNAP-Ed Strategies & Interventions Toolkit.*
Walk With Ease is a direct education program that is designed to promote education about successful physical activity for people with arthritis, arthritis self-management and walking safely and comfortably. Walk With Ease also encourages participants to continue their walking program and explore other exercise and self-management programs that deliver proven benefits for people with arthritis. Walk With Ease can be done by individuals using the Walk With Ease guidebook on their own or by groups led by trained leaders. While walking is the central activity, Walk With Ease is a multi-component program that also includes health education, stretching and strengthening exercises, and motivational strategies.
Walk With Ease has used a quasi-experimental study design with 462 individuals from 31 rural and urban communities to evaluate the program. Results show that both the self- directed and group formats were safe and effective. Program participants experienced decreased disability; improvements in levels of pain, fatigue, stiffness and self- confidence; and better perceived control over arthritis, balance, strength and walking pace.
Additional information can be found in the following publications:
- Altpeter M, Schoster B, Meier A, Callahan LF. The Nuts and Bolts of Program Adaptation: Our formative evaluation of the Arthritis Foundation Walk With Ease program. Journal of Applied Gerontology (under review).
- Schoster B, Altpeter M, Meier A, Callahan LF. Methodological tips for overcoming formative evaluation challenges: the case of the Arthritis Foundation Walk With Ease program. Health Promot Pract. 2012;13(2):198-203.
- Callahan LF, Shreffler JH, Altpeter M, et al. Evaluation of group and self-directed formats of the Arthritis Foundation’s Walk With Ease Program. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2011;63(8):1098-1107.
- Altpeter M, Houenou LO, Martin KR, Schoster B, Callahan LF. Recruiting and retaining hard-to-reach populations: lessons learned and targeted strategies from arthritis physical activity intervention studies. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2011;63(7):927-928.
- Nyrop KA, Charnock BL, Martin KR, Lias J, Altpeter M, Callahan LF. Effect of a six-week walking program on work place activity limitations among adults with arthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2011;63(12):1773-1776.
- Altpeter M, Callahan LF, Schoster B, Meier A, Buysse K. Applying the RE-AIM framework to a formative evaluation of the Walk with Ease (WWE) program for people with arthritis. 2nd International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health, April 13-16, 2008, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
* SNAP-Ed Strategies & Interventions: An Obesity Prevention Toolkit for States is a compilation of interventions. The toolkit was developed by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, The Association of SNAP-Ed Nutrition Education Administrators (ASNNA), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Training and Research Translation (Center TRT), and the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR), a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes for Health (NIH), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the USDA. It is designed and updated to help state SNAP-Ed administrative and implementing agencies identify evidence-based obesity prevention programs and policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) strategies and interventions to include in their SNAP-Ed plans.