Exercise Practice and Compliance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Keywords:
exercise, older adults, elderly, compliance, profile, longitudinalAbstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The purpose of this study was to examine the “anatomy” of exercise in a cohort of older adults. First, the characteristics of those able to meet an exercise benchmark (i.e., five exercise events per week or more) at baseline or follow-up were also identified. Second, the exercise profile of compliers (those able to meet the exercise benchmark at baseline and follow-up) was dissected to address the question, How is compliance with an exercise standard achieved by older adults? The implications of cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the data were designed to provide insight into community-based exercise and physical activity programming for older adults. Subjects were derived from an archived, longitudinal data set of 2,592 adults in the United States, including an over-sampling of those aged 60 and older. This study was restricted to 1,103 subjects 60 and older at baseline and 614 subjects available at follow-up. “Regular” exercisers (those able to meet the exercise benchmark at baseline or follow-up) were compared to non-exercisers at baseline and follow-up to identify factors that discriminated between the two groups. Longitudinal analysis involved tracking those subjects who were regular exercisers at baseline and follow-up and then examining the structure of their exercise. The results suggested that older adults who regularly exercised in this cohort were clearly advantaged with respect to health-related and demographic characteristics: a little younger, better educated, less functionally limited, fewer chronic conditions, less likely to be employed, and more apt to have the support that comes with marriage or having a partner. Compliers and regular exercisers were best represented as avid walkers, with compliers characterized notably by either of two “cross-trainer” typologies; they were prone to practice more than one of physical activity option rather than persist with only one mode of exercise. Practical implications urge programs for older adult physical activity that support a variety of walking options—outdoor trails, mall walking, city circuits around neighborhoods, walking groups, walking in the water, and treadmill walking. The frequency of cross-training among compliers underscores the need for a greater diversity of physical activity choices and more varied exercise venues for seniors, such as resistance training, aquatic exercise, dancing, yoga, tai chi, balance exercises, even adapted physical education classes for older adults in pools, recreation centers, and parks.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)
Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors
PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.
I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Park and Recreation Administration to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).
THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
Assignment of Copyright
I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.
Reversion of Rights
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.
Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes
I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.
All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.
In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.
Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.
Author Representations
- The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
- The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
- The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
- I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
- If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.