title: Evaluation of physical activity programmes for elderly people - a descriptive study using the EFQM' criteria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the past years, there has been a growing concern in designing physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people, because evidence suggests that such health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. Quality is an important issue when designing a PA programme for older people. Some studies support the Excellence Model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) as an operational framework for evaluating the quality of an organization. Within this context, the aim of this study was to characterize the quality management models of the PA programmes developed by Portuguese Local Administration to enhance quality of life for elderly people, according to the criteria of the EFQM Excellence Model.
  
  
  METHODS
  A methodological triangulation was conducted in 26 PA programmes using questionnaire surveys, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. We used standard approaches to the statistical analysis of data including frequencies and percentages for the categorical data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that Processes (65,38%), Leadership (61,03%), Customer results (58,46) and People (51,28%) had high percentage occurrences of quality practices. In contrast, Partnerships and resources (45,77%), People results (41,03%), Policy and strategy (37,91%), Key performance results (19,23%) and Society results (19,23%) had lower percentage occurrences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that although there are some good practices in PA programmes, there are still relevant areas that require improvement.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure - Faculty of Sports, Porto University, Portugal. anavalente@netvisao.pt
authors.forename: Ana I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Rute
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015397:Program Evaluation