The effectiveness of a national-wide health promotion program for community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan: Secondary analysis of a preliminary study
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Background: The world’s older population is rapidly growing, especially Asian regions that the number of elderly are projected to double between 2019 and 2050. Frailty is an aging-associated clinical syndrome with high risk for falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality, as well as psychological characteristics such loneliness and depression. The study is a nation-wide aging prevention project for health and sub-healthy community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan to implement a community-based physical exercise program. Purpose: To examine the effectiveness and influencing factors of a national-wide multi-component health promotion program for community-dwelling Taiwanese older adults. This program was developed and promoted by the Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of one-group pretest–posttest design. The participants, ≧65 years and without disabilities, received 12 weekly 2-hour group sessions. The health promotion program was led by trained instructors and consisted of physical activity, health education, and cognitive training. Level of frailty was measured by the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture (SOF) Checklist, the risk of disability by Kihon Checklist (KCL), and the life satisfaction by a single question. Pre-post comparison was assessed by the paired-t test and the effect sizes analyzed by Cohen’s d. The factors affecting the improvement of the SOF were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results: 3383 participants were recruited from 79 community centers in Taiwan. 2017 participants with valid post-test SOF scores were included in the analysis. The mean age was 74.32 ±6.48. 74.62% were female. Pre-post comparison of SOF score showed that 1249 (61.92%) remained the same. 768 (38.08%) showed changes of levels. 77.36% (N=164) improved from frail to pre-frail and robust and 350 (54.35%) from pre-frail to robust. 189 (16.28%) deteriorated from robust to pre-frail and frail, and 63 (9.78%) from pre-frail to frail. Significant improvements of KCL were found in the domains of daily function (d= 0.058, P = .009 ), physical strength (d= 0.056, P = .012), depressive mood (d= 0.134, P < .001), and total (d= 0.100, P < .001). Life satisfaction also improved (P
Authors: Chang, Ling-Hui, Mao, Hui-Fen, Wu, Ching-Yi, Wang, Ying-Wei, Chia, Shu-Li, Liu, Chia-Hsiu, Chang, Chiung-Dan, Wu, Shih-Ying
Language: English
Topic: Frailty in Older Adults
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W6886048691