Algra, R. (Ronald) (2017) Physical activity levels and barriers to physical activity of dementia patients in day care facilities. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Background: Although physical activity (PA) is beneficial for dementia patients, people with dementia are sedentary for most time of the day. The present study is a follow-up of an intervention study in which dementia patients received an individually supervised 24-week exercise program with alternating aerobic-strength exercises on a low intensity (first 12 weeks) and high intensity (last 12 weeks). To gain more insight in barriers for PA, PA changes after the period with supervised exercise are examined as well as factors affecting (dis)continuation of PA after the period of supervised exercise. Aims: The aims of present study are (1) to inventory experiences of the formal caregivers and the dementia patients with the supervised exercise program and the ending of it; (2) to examine changes in PA during and after the program; (3) to identify barriers for continuation of PA after the program. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen professional caregivers of 23 dementia patients 2-5 weeks (aims 1 and 2) and 8 months (aim 3) after finishing the program. The Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) questionnaire was administered by proxy-report with 22 informal caregivers and 1 formal caregiver before, halfway, after and six weeks after finishing the program. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and labels were assigned by open coding based on the interview topics. Results: According to the formal caregivers, dementia patients generally experienced no difficulties with the ending of the intervention and almost all patients fell back into sedentary behavior after the intervention ended. The PASE scores did not show differences in PA level between the measurement moments. Most often mentioned barriers for PA adherence were related to participants’ factors including dementia patients’ attention and memory, reduced orientation, motivation, tiredness, apathy and physical health. Conclusion: Caregivers indicate that barriers of PA are related to the vulnerability of dementia patients while the exercise program has shown that PA was possible despite this vulnerability. This suggests that the formal caregivers are either unaware of the existence of other barriers or they do not acknowledge other barriers. Therefore, more awareness for potential PA barriers should be raised. The discrepancy between formal caregivers’ perceptions of PA and PASE accounts for further research into the validity of the PASE used in daycare settings.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Heuvelen, dr. M.J.G. van and Sanders, L.M.J. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 04 May 2022 08:44 |
| Last Modified: | 04 May 2022 08:44 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3217 |
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