Leisure-time physical activities for community older people with chronic diseases.
OBJECTIVE
(1) To explore the types and three components (frequency, duration and caloric expenditure) of leisure-time physical activity in community older people with chronic diseases. (2) To identify leisure-time physical activity-related factors in these community older people.


BACKGROUND
Previous research has focused primarily on measuring the actual physiological or psychological benefits of exercise or leisure-time physical activity, little is known about the factors that determine the frequency, intensity and duration of exercise or leisure-time physical activity. The identification of reliable predictors of the various components of leisure-time physical activity will enable healthcare providers to intervene and change the patterns of leisure-time physical activity in the sedentary older people more effectively.


METHODS
A cross-sectional design was used for this study.


METHODS
Participants were recruited from the Xinyi District in Taipei, Taiwan. A total of 206 older people were recruited and were asked to complete three questionnaires during a face-to-face interview with a researcher at the activity setting.


RESULTS
The results showed that walking leisurely was the most frequent leisure-time physical activity for participants. The age, gender, living arrangement, affective feeling and environmental control were significant variables of leisure-time physical activity.


CONCLUSIONS
The study constructs accounted for moderate amounts of variance (22% for leisure-time physical activity frequency, 27% for leisure-time physical activity duration and 24% for leisure-time physical activity caloric expenditure). This study also showed that different variables play different influential roles in the different components of LTPA.


CONCLUSIONS
An effective intervention strategy for improving leisure-time physical activity of older people may involve tailoring the type, format, intensity, frequency and duration of a physical activity according to an individual's needs. This study described some environmental barriers to LTPA and recommended an increase in the accessibility to LTPA areas.
Lin
Yen-Chun
YC
Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Huang
Lian-Hua
LH
Yeh
Mei Chang
MC
Tai
John Jen
JJ
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D013624:Taiwan