Cognitive Enhancement and Risk-reduction Through Exercise for Brain-Related Outcomes

The BAILAMOS™ dance program and dance manual. BAILAMOS™ originally encompassed four dance styles: Merengue, Cha Cha Cha, Bachata, and Salsa. These four styles of Latin dance are generally considered the most popular in terms of recognition and preference. We have added two styles to appeal to the largely Mexican-origin Latinos in Chicago (i.e., Cumbia and Samba). The dances were jointly choreographed by the PI and Mr. Mendez, a professional dance instructor and owner of The Dance Academy of Salsa and http://www.salsachicago.com/. The PI and dance instructor co-developed the extensive manual is used by program instructors and includes background information on the authors, an introduction describing the goals of the program, and descriptions of the various styles of dance. The manual also has photos and descriptions of each dance broken down into its component parts.

The ¡En Forma y Fuerte! Program. ¡En Forma y Fuerte! is designed to be delivered in Spanish by bilingual, bicultural, qualified exercise instructors. Instructors are required to have an exercise instructor/specialist certification through a national organization such as the American College of Sports Medicine, American Council on Exercise, or Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, or to have an undergraduate degree in an exercise science related field. The 8 hour training uses both didactic and hands-on role modeling for delivering both the exercise and health education components of the program. Instructors in the online version will also participate in a 60 minute training designed for this new version of the program. We have previously developed an asynchronous, online instructor training for the customary program and will translate it to Spanish for this proposal.