‘Dance On’. The development and implementation of community-based group exercise programs to enhance health & wellbeing in later life

Physical activity (PA) is critical to successful ageing. Despite its well acknowledged benefits, only ~60% of older adults (55 years+) living in England undertake enough PA to reach the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations. One approach that aims to encourage and enable older adults to participate in PA are the development and implementation of community-based group exercise programs. ‘Dance On’ is a community-based dance programme co-designed to increase physical activity in women aged 55+ years, one of the least active groups in England.

In this seminar I will present the research findings from our programme of work spanning the last ~8 years, this will cover principal findings following our participants over the course of 12 months, and a nested study that examines the efficacy, and cost effectiveness of the programme to reduce falls. To further examine the impact of the programme I will outline how we have used Ripple Effect Mapping to capture the intended and unintended outcomes of the programme on both the artists leading the dance sessions, in addition to broader outcomes noted by artists, stakeholders and participants engaged in Dance on in Doncaster. Finally, I will touch on some of the learning we have encountered through our civic partnership and subsequent delivery of ‘Dance On’ and how to work collaboratively to measure the impact of programmes like ours for mutual benefit.

Professor Astill is the co-lead for the University of Leeds’ Interdisciplinary Research Network Reimagine Ageing. This is a University research network that brings together discipline-specific experts to work together to create new solutions to the major societal challenge of ageing. The network has support from Leeds City Council, Leeds Public Health, Leeds Older People’s Forum, Leeds Academic Health Partnership and the Performance Ensemble with members of the executive advisory group representing each of these organisations.

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No booking is required for this event.