The effectiveness of a physical activity intervention for seniors

Purpose. To determine whether a tailored, 6-month, neighborhood-based, physical activity intervention for people aged 65 to 74 years could increase their total physical activity levels and to identify factors associated with physical activity times. Design. A longitudinal, prospective, intervention study. Setting. Perth, Western Australia. Subjects. A total of 573 older adults, recruited from 30 intervention (n = 260) and 30 control (n 313) neighborhoods. Initial response rates were 74% (260/352) in the intervention group and 82% (313/382) in the control group, which provided the 5 73 adults for participation in the study. A total of 413 participants (177 and 236 in the intervention and control groups, respectively) completed the program. Intervention. A neighborhood-based physical activity intervention. Measures. A self-reported questionnaire administered, at three time points. Physical activity levels were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Personal and demographic information, including perceived financial. struggle and proximity to friends, were collected. Analysis. Descriptive statistics, repeated measures analysis of variance, and generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results. The intervention resulted in a significant increase in total average physical activity times of 2.25 hours per week (p <.001). The GEE analysis confirmed significant increases in physical activity from baseline to midpoint (p =.002) and to postintervention (p =.031). Perception of financial struggle (p =.020) was positively associated with physical activity time spent by participants, whereas having no friends or acquaintances living nearly (p =.037) had a significant negative correlation. The main limitation of this study was the restricted duration of the intervention. Conclusion. The program was successful in increasing weekly mean time for physical activity in seniors and in identifying factors that affect their commitment to physical activities.