Lorraine S. Evangelista received her PhD in Nursing in 2000 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Evangelista’s research interests are in cardiovascular disease, quality of life, self-care behaviors, adherence, nutrition, obesity, dietary and exercise interventions.
Lorraine Evangelista, professor and interim associate dean of Academic & Student Affairs for the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, was awarded an exploratory/developmental research grant by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (R21AG053162) for her study entitled, “Fitness Intensive Therapy (Get FIT) to Promote Healthy Living in Older Adults.”
The award, totaling nearly $425,000, will fund the feasibility testing of two behavioral Fitness Intensive Therapies: Get FIT and Get FIT+. Get FIT includes Lose It©, an Mhealth-based intervention, plus a wearable Fitbit® device to monitor physical activity patterns. Participants will be monitored for three months and given a 45-minute behavioral counseling session focused on healthy eating and exercise.
The Get FIT+ participants will receive all of the program elements the Get FIT participants receive, along with personalized text messaging from a health coach. The study will include adults 60-years and older and at risk for cardiovascular disease. Researchers will measure the impact of Get FIT vs. Get FIT+ on diet and physical activity, clinical outcomes, psychosocial well-being, patient engagement, and recruitment and retention rates at three and six months, in preparation for a larger randomized clinical trial.
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