Health Promotion Strategies
Health promotion helps us spread vital information about how to take care of ourselves and stay healthy. Learn about health promotion and disease prevention programs that teach participants about a healthy diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes.
Guides
- How To Use Incentives: A Guide for ACL CDSME and Falls Prevention Grantees— Overview of the most common types of incentives and how to use them effectively (National Council on Aging, 2023)
- Disability, Accessibility, and Inclusivity: A Best Practices Guide for Health Education Providers —
Guide to help health educators provide inclusive programs and events for everyone (National Council on Aging, 2022) - Guidelines for Delivering Telewellness Programs to Older Adults With Disabilities— Guidelines for designing wellness classes delivered via video conferencing for older adults with disabilities (TechSAge)
- Dementia Training Resources for Professionals and Volunteers — List of resources for professionals, caregivers, and volunteers (National Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center, 2022)
- Health Promotion — Information on evidence-based programs (ACL)
- High Obesity Program— Program to increase access to healthier foods and safe and accessible places for physical activity (CDC, 2025)
- Rethink Your Drink— Guidance to choosing fluids and limiting sugar-sweetened beverages (CDC, 2023)
- Setting Plans Into Motion Spotlight: Healthy Eating— Healthy changes to manage living with Type 2 diabetes (American Diabetes Association)
- Take Charge of Your Diabetes: Healthy Ears— Information on how diabetes affects hearing and balance and tips to manage (CDC, 2021)
- Chronic Conditions and Fall Risk: Cross-Promoting Programs Across the Continuum of Care— Article on how engaging participants and providers encourages community partnerships and collaboration (National Council on Aging, 2023)
- Increasing Completion of Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Workshops — Tip sheet offering strategies to improve participant completion of evidence-based health promotion programs in the community (National Council on Aging, 2021)
- Managing Staff Transitions and Maintaining Evidence-Based Program Delivery Capacity — Tips for preparing for staff transitions and organizational changes (National Council on Aging, 2024)
- Diabetes Guide to Foods of African Heritage— Resource (Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists, 2021)
- Engaging People with Disabilities in Evidence-Based Programs — Tip sheet offering best practices for making evidence-based programs more accessible and inclusive (National Council on Aging, 2021)
- Maximizing Complete and Accurate Data — Tip sheet for establishing quality assurance processes for data collection (National Council on Aging, 2023)
- Loss of Taste and Smell— Discussion of possible medical causes for the loss of taste and smell with treatment suggestions (Cleveland Clinic)
Fact Sheets
- About Evidence-Based Programs — Overview outlining the benefits of evidence-based programs (National Council on Aging, 2022)
- Occupational Wellness Tip Sheet — Tips to utilize your participants' skills to benefit your program and community (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Physical Wellness Tip Sheet — Tip sheet to help incorporate more evidence-based physical activity programs into your senior nutrition program (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Nutrition Medicare Benefits — Information on eight Medicare-covered preventive services (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Healthy Blood Pressure for Healthy Hearts— Tip sheet on taking control for your blood pressure (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2019)
- Making the Move to DASH (Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension)— Tips to make DASH work for you (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2019)
- Collecting Participant and Partner Data for ACL Chronic Disease Self-Management and Falls Prevention Evidence-Based Programs — Guidance on data from experienced grantees on improving the data collection process (National Council on Aging, 2023)
Tools & Toolkits
- OAA Approved Evidence-Based Programs — Spreadsheet with evidence-based programs approved for funding through the Older Americans Act Title III-D
- Food Is Medicine— Resources to prevent and manage diet-related diseases and promote well-being through food and nutrition (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)
- Title III-D Monitoring Tool — Customizable Word template for evaluating whether activities meet OAA requirements (ACL)
- How To Recruit Older Adults for Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Programs on Social Media— Toolkit to help your organization recruit more older adults to your evidence-based CDSME programs (National Council on Aging, 2023)
- Sarcopenia Resources— Handouts to help clients prevent and treat age-related muscle loss (Office on Women's Health)
- Move Your Way— Campaign materials for promoting physical activity among older adults (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)
- How To Get Your Community Moving With Move Your Way (YouTube)— Two-minute video (2023)
- On the Move to Better Heart Health for African Americans— Toolkit explaining heart disease and its risk factors (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2008)
- Rural Community Health Toolkit— Information on developing a rural health program (Rural Health Information Hub)
- Rural Health Promotion and Disease Prevention— Toolkit for identifying and implementing a health promotion program (Rural Health Information Hub)
- Tools for Action— Resources for promoting public health priorities from Healthy People 2030 (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)
- Eating Well in Later Life— Booklet for older adults and caregivers to avoid unintentional weight loss (Malnutrition Task Force, 2019)
- Diabetes Food Hub— Recipes and meal planning resources to support living with diabetes (American Diabetes Association)
- Native Diabetes Wellness Program— Program to help prevent Type 2 diabetes (CDC)
Presentations
- Grand Rounds for Evidence-Based Program Providers— Series where ACL grantees share how they are delivering evidence-based programs in the virtual/remote environment, successes of their work, and lessons learned (National Council on Aging)
- Understanding High Blood Pressure and Sarcopenia Among Older Americans— One-hour webinar on the relationship between sarcopenia and high blood pressure and how addressing one may assist with addressing the other (Office on Women's Health, 2024)
- You Are Stronger than Sarcopenia (YouTube)— Three-minute video from the Office on Women's Health highlighting a story from a lived experience advocate (Office on Women's Health, 2024)
- The Confidence To Empower Older Adults (YouTube)— Eight-minute network spotlight on providing nutrition education and evidence-based programming for older adults while also finding personal benefits within the work (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, 2023)
- Dissemination and Implementation of Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs: Reach and Effectiveness— One-hour webinar that describes the implementation of chronic disease self-management programs by ACL grantees during 2014-2022 (free registration required to view the video) (National Council on Aging, 2023)
- Improving the Health Span of Older Adults Through Nutrition (YouTube)— Webinar series (Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2021)
- Health & Well-being Webinar (YouTube)— One-hour webinar on the value of health and well-being programs and partnerships and how to reach older adults, with accompanying presentation Health & Well-Being Slides, Health & Well-Being Tip Sheet, and Health & Well-Being Takeaways (ACL, 2021)
- Chronic Disease Self-Management Education (YouTube)— Two-minute video that explains how CDSME can help manage chronic disease in older adults (Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, 2024)
Reports
- National Study of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program — Overview that summarizes the study and highlights key improvements in health and well-being (National Council on Aging, 2021)
- Successful Strategies and Lessons Learned from Implementing Evidence-Based Programs in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Communities — Summary discussions by grantees and professionals who participated in listening sessions focused on program implementation (National Council on Aging, 2021)