A Physical Activity Intervention in Nursing Home Residents in China

Background:A high proportion of nursing home residents live a sedentary lifestyle and main adverse consequences of sedentary lifestyles include declines in physical functioning, lower quality of life, and higher mortality. Providing educational intervention is the first step to help older adults change their unhealthy lifestyle. This study examined the effectiveness of an educational program on physical activity for nursing home residents in Wuhan, China.  

Methods: A quasi-experimental pre-posttest design was conducted. A convenience sample of 39 participants was recruited. The eligible nursing home residents participated in a 6 weeks of educational program on physical activity. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews at pre- and post-intervention and at a one-month follow up.

Results: 91.2% of the participants' physical activity level was low with a mean level of 359 MET min/wk; perceived exercise benefits was 71.12, mean scores for all benefits were between 2 and 3, which is a neutral attitude; perceived exercise barriers was 29.91, mean score on individual barriers was 2.14. After receiving the educational intervention, participants increased physical activity and improved perceived benefits and barriers at the post-test and follow-up test compared with the pre-test. Significant improvements were found in physical activity (F=77.98; p<0.01), perceived benefits (F=66.77; p<0.01), and perceived barriers (F=13.16; p<0.01)

Conclusions: The results showed the effectiveness of an educational program on physical activity among nursing home residents. Community health nurses can provide education programs focusing on promoting physical activity, identifying barriers and benefits to exercise to improve quality of life for this population.