Health Promotion Research Center Celebrates 25 Years of Success

Irene Stewart, Aging and Disability Services Planner

Congratulations to the Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC) on 25 years of successful research and collaboration! Watch this video for more information about the remarkable work of this center, located at the University of Washington, one of 37 Prevention Research Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Born in 1986, the HPRC was originally known as the Center for Health Promotion in Older Adults. Early research on the benefits of physical fitness for older adults resulted in the development of the EnhanceFitness program, a low-cost, evidence-based group exercise program that helps older adults at all levels of fitness become more active, energized, and empowered so they can continue to live independently. Together with EnhanceWellness, a program that encourages older adults to take on health challenges and maintain control of their lives, and known as Project Enhance, the program is now managed by Senior Services.

HPRC developed the depression management program known as PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives for Seniors), recipient of the 2011 Archstone Foundation Award for Excellence in Program Innovation (to be presented in November at the 139th APHA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC). PEARLS is a home-based depression management program developed collaboratively by HPRC and Aging and Disability Services. The program includes 19 weeks of home visits for problem-solving therapy, behavioral activation, and pleasant events scheduling; six months of brief, monthly, follow-up phone calls; and clinical oversight by a psychiatrist at depression management team sessions. For more information about PEARLS coaching available through Aging and Disability Services, contact Carl Kaiser, MSW, at carl.kaiser@seattle.gov or 206-386-0039.

The HPRC also helped to launch the Healthy Aging Partnership (HAP), a coalition of more than 30 nonprofit, government and community organizations in King County, including Aging and Disability Services. HAP offers information and resources to older adults and caregivers through education, outreach, and promotion of a free confidential information and referral line—1-888-4-ELDERS—that links with Senior Information & Assistance.
 
Other research focus areas include cancer prevention and control, fall prevention, and workplace health promotion. For more information, visit the HPRC website or a list of current HPRC projects.