Barakou, I. (Ioulia) (2020) Directly measured activity pacing associated with self-reported fatigue and physical activity in people with brain disorders. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Background: Fatigue is an ubiquitous symptom, which could be a possible predictor of decreased functional activity in people with brain disorders. Activity pacing behavior might have the potential to diminish any overactivity or underactivity in order to reduce fatigue. This study aims (1) to identify how people with brain disorders naturally use activity pacing in daily life, and (2) to investigate the association between those activity pacing behaviors and self-reported physical activity along with perceived fatigue. Methods: Eighteen participants wore an activity monitor (Actiheart) continuously for 7 full days, followed by filling out a questionnaire asking for perceived fatigue and perceived physical activity on a scale from 1 to 10 for morning, afternoon and evening. First, standard deviation of the counts per minute was calculated as an indicator of activity pacing. The median split was used to identify low and high pacers. Second, a spearman's rho rank correlation coefficient test was conducted to investigate the association between activity pacing assessed with the Actiheart and self-reported physical activity and fatigue. Results: First, two different behavioral outcomes in activity pacing were identified: a) overactive behavior (low pacers; N=11) and b) a more evenly distributed activity pace pattern (high pacers; N=7). Second, high levels of activity pacing assessed by the Actiheart were associated with high levels of self-reported feelings of fatigue (morning: r=-0.624, p=0.006, afternoon: r=-0.648, p= 0.004, evening: r=-0.578, p=0.012) and with high levels of self-reported physical activity in the morning (morning: r=0.643, p=0.004); however, high levels of activity pacing are associated with low levels of self-reported physical activity in the afternoon and evening (afternoon: r=0.256, p= 0.305, evening: r= 0.468, p=0.050). Conclusion: Our study identified two behavioral outcomes towards activity pacing: 1) overactive behavior and 2) a more evenly distributed activity pace pattern. It was concluded that evenly distributed activity pacing patterns are related to high levels of perceived fatigue. People with different activity pacing behaviors need different tailored advice, which might advantage them to better manage physical activity and fatigue symptoms. Keywords: chronic disorders, measurement, fatigue, physical activity, activity pacing
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Leving, dr. M. and Seves, B. and Hettinga, prof. dr. F. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 16 May 2022 08:31 |
| Last Modified: | 16 May 2022 08:31 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3334 |
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