When it comes to physical activity and health, what really matters to older adults?
For years, high-quality randomized controlled trials have demonstrated a variety of health benefits from physical activity for older adults, but too little attention has been given to ensuring such trials measure outcomes that are relevant to older adults. APHL PhD student Peter Young set out to address that gap.
Peter conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 older adults ranging from 67 to 95 years of age to explore what older adults hope to gain from participating in physical activity.
We learned that older adults desire a diverse set of outcomes from their physical activity, spanning physical, clinical, psychological, social, and overarching domains.
Some of the outcomes that are important to older adults are quite specific, such as improved balance confidence, greater leg strength, and a reason to get up in the morning. These types of specific outcomes usually contributed to broader holistic goals that older adults held for maintaining independence and quality of life.
“Quality of life improvements seem to be the root of all outcomes,” commented first author Peter Young.
Physical activity appears to be a vehicle through which older adults express autonomy, feel a sense of control and confidence, and empower themselves to ride the waves of their aging processes, which together contribute to quality of life.
Interestingly, older adults often expressed a reserved outlook about body-related outcomes, hoping that physical activity would help them maintain their current status or limit decline. In contrast, they had a much more ambitious set of desires for mentally-perceived outcomes, hoping that physical activity would improve their social connectedness and overall mental well-being above their current status.
The study has important implications for how research teams design physical activity trials.
“Some of the outcomes of physical activity that are important to older adults, namely social and psychological outcomes, are not commonly measured in randomized controlled trials. There is a distinct opportunity and need for more patient-relevant outcomes in future trials,” said Dr. Mackey.
Read the full article here.
Funding for this project was provided by the Drummond Foundation.
References
Young PJ, Wallsworth C, Gosal H, Mackey DC. "Now I Am Walking Toward Health": A Qualitative Study About the Outcomes of Physical Activity Participation That Matter to Older Adults. J Aging Phys Act. Published online May 15, 2024. doi:10.1123/japa.2023-0290 PubMed ID