Active Aging Promotion: Results from the Vital Aging Program

Table 1

Summary of Vital Aging versions: procedures for implementation and evaluation.

	Vital Ageing L	Vital Ageing M	Vital Ageing e-Learning
Date of implementation	1996–2003	2002–2012	2012
Duration each edition	3 months, 70 hours (3 hours/session; 2 sessions per week)	3 months, 48 hours (2–4 hours per session, 2 sessions per week)	3 months: 1 unit per 2 week
Trainers	Experts	Experts from Germany, Italy, and Spain; Organized by a Tutor	Organized by a Virtual Tutor and an On-site tutor
Materials	Basic Text: Fernández-Ballesteros [11]; Standard classes	Multimedia learning technology; Video Lessons	Basic texts: http://www.vivirconvitalidad.com/; Learning management System, LMS- Moodle Platform
Financed	Institute of Older Adults and Social Services (IMSERSO)	European Commission (Vitalgell-C Project, 2002)	UAM-Santander Inter-University Cooperation Program for Latin America (PUM-e, 2010–2012)
Session procedure	(1) Introduction; (2) Pre-test; (3) Practice and exercises; (4) Post-test; (5) Conclusions and remarks	(1) Introduction; (2) Pre-test; (3) Practice and exercises; (4) Post-test; (5) Conclusions and remarks	(1) Introduction; (2) Pre-test; (3) Readings; (4) Practice and exercise; (5) Forums; (6) Tutorial; (7) Post-test in each unit
Recruitment	Announcements in newspapers, on radio and in UAM promotion systems	Announcements at selected Senior Citizens’ Clubs and at UAM, to Students from University Programs for Older Adults	Students from University Programs for Older Adults at the four universities
Participants	240 volunteers attended the program (approximately 35 per course; Mean age = 72.3, range = 57–83, SD = 6.7; 70% women)	155 volunteers (around 10–22 per course; Mean age = 69.9, range = 60–94, SD = 6; 76% women)	88 volunteers: UAM (𝑁=26), La Habana University (𝑁=20), National University Autonomous of Mexico (𝑁=23) and Catholic University of Chile (𝑁=19). (Mean age = 64.2; SD: 7.57, range = 49–84; 84% women)