Falls are a frequent and costly cause of injuries and functional decline in the elderly. Tai Chi is a cost-effective strategy for preventing falls in older adults. Many senior centers have introduced Tai Chi programs to increase mobility and decrease the risk of falls. However, the practice has yet to be widely disseminated to ethnic minorities who are not culturally connected to Tai Chi. This paper describes implementation barriers and recruitment and retention challenges of Arab American participants in a Tai Chi intervention-based health promotion program, including issues related to community organization and staffing, recruitment and retention, need for building relationships, need for translation and interpreters, and cultural barriers & misconceptions. Understanding and paying adequate attention to these challenges may help facilitate in planning other health promotion interventions targeting Arab American population.
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