Meghan L Mills, Salma M Aly, James H Rimmer
MENTOR improves wellness for adults with mobility limitations regardless of demographic or social support factors. Smaller gains among participants with higher baseline emotional support highlight the program's potential to particularly benefit individuals with mobility limitations who have lower initial levels of support.
OBJECTIVE: To examine demographic differences in health outcomes among adults with mobility limitations who participated in the telewellness health promotion program Mindfulness, Exercise, and Nutrition to Optimize Resilience (MENTOR), and to assess the influence of social support on program outcomes.
DESIGN: Retrospective secondary analysis of longitudinal survey data from participants completing pre- and post-assessments of the MENTOR program.
SETTING: MENTOR is delivered remotely via a telewellness platform.
PARTICIPANTS: Adults with mobility limitations (N = 599) who completed both assessments.
INTERVENTIONS: MENTOR, an 8-week, 40-hour telewellness intervention incorporating mindfulness, exercise, and nutrition education, offered free to U.S. residents with mobility limitations.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Change in overall wellness scores across physical, mental, and emotional domains. Differences were examined by age, sex, race, residence, education, income, disability onset, assistive device use, and functional limitation. Social support was assessed via employment, marital status, household composition, and perceived emotional support.
RESULTS: MENTOR produced statistically significant improvements in wellness across participants, even after adjusting for demographic and social support variables. Individual characteristics modestly explained variation in improvement magnitude. Age and unmarried status slightly reduced gains. Higher baseline emotional support was linked to smaller improvements, suggesting greater benefit among participants with lower initial levels of perceived support.
CONCLUSION: MENTOR improves wellness for adults with mobility limitations regardless of demographic or social support factors. Smaller gains among participants with higher baseline emotional support highlight the program's potential to particularly benefit individuals with mobility limitations who have lower initial levels of support.