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A balance between meaningfulness and risk of harm - frail elderly patients' perceptions of physical activity and exercise - an interview study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:There is growing evidence of the benefits of physical activity and exercise for frail elderly patients with comorbidity. In order to improve participation in physical activity and exercise interventions, there is a need to increase our understanding of the patient's perspective. AIM:The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of physical activity and exercise among frail elderly patients with a severe comorbidity burden. METHOD:Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted with eighteen frail elderly patients with a severe comorbidity burden, median age 85.5?years (min-max 75-94). The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed according to content analysis inspired by Krippendorf. RESULTS:An overall theme, defined as "Meaningfulness and risk of harm in an aging body" was identified, followed by three main categories, labeled physical activity in daily life, goals of physical activity and exercise and prerequisites for physical activity and exercise, and eight sub-categories. CONCLUSION:This study suggests that, in frail elderly patients with severe multimorbidity, physical activity and exercise is a balance between what is perceived as meaningful and the risk of harm. Patients perceived aging as an inevitable process that they needed to accept and gradually adapt their physical activities in daily life to match. As patients said they were unclear about the benefits and risks of exercise and referred to their previous life and experiences when describing physical activity and exercise, it is likely that the communication relating to this within the healthcare system needs to be further developed To promote physical activity and exercise to maintain or improve physical fitness in this frail population, healthcare providers need to use extended, personalized information to tailor the type of physical activities, goals and prerequisites for each patient.

SUBMITTER: Ahlund K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7685538 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A balance between meaningfulness and risk of harm - frail elderly patients' perceptions of physical activity and exercise - an interview study.

Åhlund Kristina K Öberg Birgitta B Ekerstad Niklas N Bäck Maria M

BMC geriatrics 20201123 1

<h4>Background</h4>There is growing evidence of the benefits of physical activity and exercise for frail elderly patients with comorbidity. In order to improve participation in physical activity and exercise interventions, there is a need to increase our understanding of the patient's perspective.<h4>Aim</h4>The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of physical activity and exercise among frail elderly patients with a severe comorbidity burden.<h4>Method</h4>Face-to-face, in-depth inte ...[more]

PMID: 33228542

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Project description:IntroductionPhysical activity (PA) is important for healthy ageing. Better insight into objectively measured PA levels in older adults is needed, since most previous studies employed self-report measures for PA assessment, which are associated with overestimation of PA.AimThis study aimed to provide insight in objectively measured indoor and outdoor PA of older adults, and in PA differences by frailty levels.MethodsData were collected among non-frail (N = 74) and frail (N = 10) subjects, aged 65 to 89 years. PA, measured for seven days with accelerometers and GPS-devices, was categorized into three levels of intensity (sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous PA).ResultsOlder adults spent most time in sedentary and light PA. Subjects spent 84.7%, 15.1% and 0.2% per day in sedentary, light and moderate-to-vigorous PA respectively. On average, older adults spent 9.8 (SD 23.7) minutes per week in moderate-to-vigorous activity, and 747.0 (SD 389.6) minutes per week in light activity. None of the subjects met the WHO recommendations of 150 weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA. Age-, sex- and health status-adjusted results revealed no differences in PA between non-frail and frail older adults. Subjects spent significantly more sedentary time at home, than not at home. Non-frail subjects spent significantly more time not at home during moderate-to-vigorous activities, than at home.ConclusionsObjective assessment of PA in older adults revealed that most PA was of light intensity, and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA was very low. None of the older adults met the World Health Organization recommendations for PA. These levels of MVPA are much lower than generally reported based on self-reported PA. Future studies should employ objective methods, and age specific thresholds for healthy PA levels in older adults are needed. These results emphasize the need for effective strategies for healthy PA levels for the growing proportion of older adults.

Dataset Information

A balance between meaningfulness and risk of harm - frail elderly patients' perceptions of physical activity and exercise - an interview study.

Publications

A balance between meaningfulness and risk of harm - frail elderly patients' perceptions of physical activity and exercise - an interview study.

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