What is the effect of health coaching on physical activity participation in people aged 60 years and over? A systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
BACKGROUND
Physical inactivity is common in older age, yet increased activity benefits older people in terms of preventing chronic disease and maximising independence. Health coaching is a behaviour change intervention that has been shown to increase physical activity in clinical populations. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effect of health coaching on physical activity, mobility, quality of life and mood in older people.


METHODS
MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, PsycINFO, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, LILACS and CINAHL databases were used to identify randomised controlled trials which evaluated the effect of health coaching on physical activity (primary outcome) among people aged 60+. Secondary outcomes were mobility, quality of life and mood. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMDs, Hedges' g) with 95% CIs from random effects meta-analyses.


RESULTS
27 eligible trials were included. Health coaching had a small, statistically significant effect on physical activity (27 studies; SMD = 0.27; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.37; p<0.001). There was no evidence of an effect of health coaching on mobility (eight studies; SMD = 0.10; 95% CI -0.03 to 0.23; p=0.13), quality of life (eight studies; SMD = 0.07; 95% CI -0.06 to 0.20; p<0.05) or mood (five studies; SMD = 0.02; 95% CI -0.12 to 0.16; p=0.83).


CONCLUSIONS
Health coaching significantly increased physical activity in people aged 60+. There was no evidence of an effect of health coaching on quality of life, mobility and mood, so different approaches may be required to impact on these outcomes.
The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Juliana S
JS
Oliveira
The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Catherine
C
Sherrington
Discipline of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Anita B
AB
Amorim
Discipline of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Amabile B
AB
Dario
The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Anne
A
Tiedemann
D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D015444:Exercise; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D000071252:Mentoring; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Elderly people; Physical activity