Staff training and materials
Staff training was carried out for the evaluators, workshop facilitators, OWG leaders and assistants, and weekly reminder callers. Evaluators at all sites completed evaluator training by videoconferencing for 2 h, led by the Toronto site. The evaluator manual, which included standard operating procedures, was reviewed in detail. Each site ran a practice session. The workshop facilitator training at each site consisted of a 2-h in-person review and discussion of the participant workshop booklet and the workshop facilitator guide, as well as practice of the content of each station. The Winnipeg site provided OWG training to leaders at all sites. The 90-min training was provided by teleconference and videoconferencing, recorded, and made available to leaders and assistants to review at a later time. Review of the OWG facilitator guide included theoretical background, safety considerations and week by week details of the OWG intervention. Videos were created and available for staff which highlighted safety and use of Nordic Poles. Training for the WR callers included review of the WR facilitator guide which detailed the WR script and discussion topics for each week.