Optimal Aging and the Use of Action Plans

In southern Oregon, Extension-sponsored symposia have repeatedly provided health-related information to older adults. In the most recent symposium, an action-planning component was incorporated, asking each participant to use the knowledge acquired during a day of informal training to specify a health-related behavior they wished to change. The participants were asked to commit, in writing, to changing an identified behavior. Eighty-seven percent of individuals attending the symposium who completed action plans and were reached by telephone 2 weeks to 3 weeks following the date of the symposium reported they were successful in changing specific health-related behaviors.