Objective: To partially evaluate the public health impact (i.e., reach, adoption, maintenance) of People with Arthritis Can Exercise (PACE) programs, which were initiated as a result of two PACE instructor-training workshops.
Design: The study design involved a one-time only, cross-sectional assessment of reach, adoption, and maintenance, conducted 6 months after the workshops.
Sample: Participants were 11 adults (n(females)=10) trained to be PACE instructors at one of the workshops.
Measurements: One-on-one phone interviews, developed using the RE-AIM framework, assessed reach, adoption, and maintenance.
Results: Eight of the 11 individuals trained as instructors subsequently began PACE in one of 10 organizations across various communities, indicating high program adoption. However, on average, only 7 individuals with arthritis participated in each PACE program, indicating a low program reach. Within 6 months of beginning PACE, only 3 organizations continued to offer PACE, indicating low program maintenance. Two primary challenges to initiating PACE included recruiting a sufficient number of people to participate in the program and in finding a convenient time to offer it so more individuals could join.
Conclusion: The public health impact, as assessed by reach, adoption, and maintenance, of PACE programs initiated as a result of 2 instructor-training workshops was low.