Coletta Giulia, Noguchi Kenneth S, Beaudoin Kayla, McQuarrie Angelica, Tang Ada, Ganann Rebecca, Phillips Stuart M, Griffin Meridith
Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
JMIR Aging. 2025 Apr 3;8:e66473. doi: 10.2196/66473.
Older adults face several barriers to exercise participation, including transportation, lack of access, and poor weather conditions. Such barriers may influence whether older adults meet the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines. Recently, older adults have adopted technology for health care and are increasingly using digital health technologies to improve their access to care. Therefore, technology may be a valuable tool to reduce barriers to exercise and increase exercise participation rates within this population.
This study aimed to explore older adults' perceptions and experiences of exercise, in general, and specifically related to our synchronous online exercise program for community-dwelling older adults.
A total of 3 registered kinesiologists and 1 physiotherapist with experience working with older adults delivered an 8-week, thrice-weekly synchronous online group-based exercise program for older adults in 3 cohorts. The program focused on strength, balance, and aerobic activity. Following the program, a qualitative study with interpretive descriptive design was conducted to explore participants' perceptions and experiences. Participants were invited to take part in a 30-minute, one-on-one semistructured interview via Zoom with a research team member. Interview data were thematically analyzed to identify common themes.
A total of 22 older adults (16 women, 6 men; mean age 70, SD 4 years) participated in interviews. Three themes were identified as follows: (1) health, exercise, and aging beliefs; (2) the pandemic interruption and impacts; and (3) synchronous online exercise programs attenuate barriers to exercise. Participants discussed their exercise beliefs and behaviors and their desire to safely and correctly participate in exercise. Older adults found that their physical activity was curtailed, routines disrupted, and access to in-person exercise programs revoked due to the pandemic. However, many suggested that our synchronous online exercise program was motivational and attenuated commonly reported environmental barriers to participation, such as transportation concerns (eg, time spent traveling, driving, and parking), accessibility and convenience by participating at a location of their choice, and removing travel-related concerns during poor weather conditions.
Given these reported experiences, we posit that synchronous online exercise programs may help motivate and maintain adherence to exercise programs for older adults. These findings may be leveraged to improve health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults.
老年人在参与锻炼方面面临诸多障碍，包括交通、缺乏锻炼机会以及恶劣天气条件等。这些障碍可能会影响老年人是否能达到《加拿大24小时运动指南》的要求。近年来，老年人已将技术应用于医疗保健领域，并越来越多地使用数字健康技术来改善他们获得医疗服务的机会。因此，技术可能是减少老年人锻炼障碍并提高该群体锻炼参与率的宝贵工具。
本研究旨在探讨老年人对锻炼的总体看法和体验，特别是与我们为社区居住的老年人开展的同步在线锻炼项目相关的看法和体验。
共有3名注册运动生理学家和1名有与老年人合作经验的物理治疗师为3个队列的老年人开展了一个为期8周、每周三次的同步在线团体锻炼项目。该项目侧重于力量、平衡和有氧运动。项目结束后，进行了一项采用解释性描述设计的定性研究，以探讨参与者的看法和体验。邀请参与者通过Zoom与一名研究团队成员进行30分钟的一对一结构化访谈。对访谈数据进行主题分析以确定共同主题。
共有22名老年人（16名女性，6名男性；平均年龄70岁，标准差4岁）参与了访谈。确定了三个主题如下：（1）健康、锻炼和衰老观念；（2）疫情干扰及影响；（3）同步在线锻炼项目减轻了锻炼障碍。参与者讨论了他们的锻炼观念和行为以及他们安全、正确参与锻炼的愿望。老年人发现，由于疫情，他们的身体活动受到限制，日常活动被打乱，参加面对面锻炼项目的机会也被取消。然而，许多人表示，我们的同步在线锻炼项目很有激励作用，并减轻了通常报道的参与锻炼的环境障碍，如交通问题（如出行、驾驶和停车所花费的时间）、通过在自己选择的地点参与锻炼所带来的便利性和可达性，以及消除恶劣天气条件下与出行相关的担忧。
鉴于这些报告的经历，我们认为同步在线锻炼项目可能有助于激励和维持老年人对锻炼项目的坚持。这些发现可用于改善社区居住老年人的健康状况。
