Search results

Implementing physical activity in nursing homes (NHs) can improve functional capacity, quality of life and well-being and even control symptoms associated with chronic diseases in elderly people. Taking into consideration the increasing in number of NHs in Türkiye, it is obvious that this matter should be handled. The purpose of this study is to explore health-care staff’s perspectives on implementing physical activity in NHs.

A generic, qualitative study using face-to-face semi-structured interviews was conducted among 25 health-care staff. A theoretical sampling strategy was used to inform data collection. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis method.

Three main themes and seven sub-themes were generated from health-care staff’s narratives of implementing physical activity. Main themes were the lack of knowledge about physical activity, negative mindset and organizational requirements. Implementing physical activity in NHs contributes to a better quality of life for the residents and the protection and improvement of their health. However, a lack of knowledge, negative perceptions of both health-care staff and administrators about physical activity and the organizational requirement were recognized.

Findings from this study will enable administrators to recognize the potential challenges and make informed decisions to implement physical activity programs for NH residents from health-care staff’s perspectives who are working with elderly people.

The purpose of this paper is to outline an approach being taken, to improve opportunities and increase levels of physical activity amongst residents in care homes in Scotland, which has the potential to make a significant difference to the quality of lives. The approach is designed to raise awareness about the importance of physical activity, increase skills, knowledge and capacity amongst the workforce.

The paper describes the reasons for promoting physical activity in care homes. It describes the challenge to this, associated issues and introduces you to a resource pack which offers solutions to care homes through a self-improvement process. It provides a case study which exemplifies how the ideas can be applied on a day-to-day basis.

The paper provides insights into the challenges in the care home sector to promoting physical activity and offers some ways round these. It describes two strategies within the new resource pack to support care home residents to make person centred physical activity choices.

This paper suggests that to promote physical activity in a care home the choices and needs of an individual must be the starting point. It requires partnership working and good leadership where staff have the permission to work in a new way. It suggests that risk enablement is key and the benefits of physical activity outweigh the risks even with frail older people.

This paper promotes a new resource pack for care homes in Scotland for promoting an active life based on a self-improvement process.

The workplace is an ideal setting to promote physical activity. The purpose of this study is to examine associations with physical activity at and around the workplace.

Participants were recruited from a random sample of employed adults (n=1,107) in capital cities and major regional centres in Australia. Self‐reported barriers and participation in physical activity at and around the workplace were assessed. A multivariable logistic regression model adjusting for age, sex, occupational status, and overall physical activity assessed the odds of being active in this setting.

Of participants, 61 percent perceived being active in the workplace. Those who perceived their work colleagues and managers to be physically active, and those who indicated that their workplace provides facilities to support them being active had higher odds of being physically active at or around the workplace.

A poor response rate, physically active sample and cross‐sectional analysis prevent inferences about the causality of the findings.

The paper provides evidence of the potential for the multiple levels of influence on physical activity at and around the workplace.

Health scientists and urban planners have long been interested in the influence that the built environment has on the physical activities in which we engage, the environmental hazards we face, the kinds of amenities we enjoy, and the resulting impacts on our health. However, it is widely recognized that the extent of this influence, and the specific cause-and-effect relationships that exist, are still relatively unclear. Recent reviews highlight the need for more individual-level data on daily activities (especially physical activity) over long periods of time linked spatially to real-world characteristics of the built environment in diverse settings, along with a wide range of personal mediating variables. While capturing objective data on the built environment has benefited from wide-scale availability of detailed land use and transport network databases, the same cannot be said of human activity. A more diverse history of data collection methods exists for such activity and continues to evolve owing to a variety of quickly emerging wearable sensor technologies. At present, no “gold standard” method has emerged for assessing physical activity type and intensity under the real-world conditions of the built environment; in fact, most methods have barely been tested outside of the laboratory, and those that have tend to experience significant drops in accuracy and reliability. This paper provides a review of these diverse methods and emerging technologies, including biochemical, self-report, direct observation, passive motion detection, and integrated approaches. Based on this review and current needs, an integrated three-tiered methodology is proposed, including: (1) passive location tracking (e.g., using global positioning systems); (2) passive motion/biometric tracking (e.g., using accelerometers); and (3) limited self-reporting (e.g., using prompted recall diaries). Key development issues are highlighted, including the need for proper validation and automated activity-detection algorithms. The paper ends with a look at some of the key lessons learned and new opportunities that have emerged at the crossroads of urban studies and health sciences.

We do have a vision for a world in which people can walk to shops, school, friends' homes, or transit stations; in which they can mingle with their neighbors and admire trees, plants, and waterways; in which the air and water are clean; and in which there are parks and play areas for children, gathering spots for teens and the elderly, and convenient work and recreation places for the rest of us. (Frumkin, Frank, & Jackson, 2004, p. xvii)

Physical activity is an eminent practice for the maintenance of physical and mental health. Physical fitness always enables students to perform their various tasks efficiently specifically in academic performance. Student health is a principal factor for the performance of all kinds of activities particularly in academic performance. This study aimed to evaluate physical activity among university students and the factors for being inactive.

A questionnaire was designed and distributed among the students via WhatsApp, Skype and email, however, some responses were collected physically to maintain the quality of data. The questionnaire was categorized into demographic factors, current physical activity status and reasons for physical inactivity. Each section was further divided into questions and total 24 questions were asked from each individual for evaluation of inactiveness.

The finding of this research explored that enormous number of students are doing part time jobs and unable to find enough time for relaxation. The research was limited and evaluated limited factors and explored that 60.6% of students had less time for entertainment and this is only 2 h for this 60.6% of students. Among all factors of physical activity walking was preferable for 48.34% of the students. Students want to participate in healthy activities. Moreover, students are unable to perform physical exercise due to busy schedules of jobs (47.02%), part-time job burden (15.89%), study burden (35.10%) and poor health conditions (1.32%).

This study concluded that higher percentage of students have stress of limited resources and under this stress condition they are unable to take a balanced diet which they considered cost-effective. They did not perform maximum in their academic and daily activities and did not participate in sports activities. It was also observed that institutions did not provide a sufficient platform for physical activity for students. The research shows the factors which affect the student’s academic performance as being physically inactive. Evaluation of results explored that numerous students have limited resources during their career development and their attention remain diverted to overcome their limited resources which keep them physically unfit. The findings also explored that physically inactive students have heavy study and job burden which is not overcome and analyzed by their institutions.

Explores the relationships between the perceived quality of physical education lessons, the perceived quality of opportunities for physical activity in a residential area, and the physical fitness and health of pupils attending Grades 5 and 9 in Germany. The data were collected from 300 pupils in a community in Saxony, using a standardized questionnaire and a standard test of sporting ability. Results indicated that girls evaluated the opportunities for physical activity in the residential area more critically than boys. Multivariate analysis showed that the subjective health status of pupils was associated with good physical fitness and a good perception of opportunities for physical activity in the residential area, but not with the perceived quality of physical education lessons. These results provide evidence that a relationship between the urban environment and physical activity exists, and that the promotion of physical activity for pupils can benefit from intersectoral approaches.

This paper provides a summary of the current state of knowledge on the use of physical activity as an adjunctive treatment in schizophrenia. There is a well documented relationship between physical activity and mental health, which is reflected in numerous health policy recommendations for practice, in both the promotion of mental health and in the treatment of mental health problems. In schizophrenia, this association is also recognised, and research has suggested that participation in physical activity regimes can have beneficial effects on positive and negative symptoms, psychological well‐being and anxiety and tension. However, a neglected area of research is in the potential for physical activity to remediate the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Physical activity has been shown to enhance cognitive function in a wide variety of clinical and non‐clinical populations, however this body of research has not yet extended to schizophrenia populations. The authors argue that this should be a future priority.

Limited evidence exists regarding a group of nurses' physical activity patterns and association with resilience. Less is known about the physical activity health paradox in nurses (the positive health effects of leisure time physical activity vs the negative health effects of occupational physical activity). This study aimed to explore the profiles of intensive care nurses' physical activity behaviours and associations with resilience, following a developed study-specific job demands–recovery framework.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to explore their physical activity profiles and associations with resilience. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25 (CD-RISC 25) was used to assess resilience, and accelerometry was utilised to record participants' four-day activity (two workdays, two non-workdays). Hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to define groups of nurses by activity behaviours.

Participants (N = 93) were classified as low actives (n = 19), standers (n = 36), sitters (n = 31) and movers (n = 7). During two 12-h shifts, movers had the highest mean level of dynamic standing and the lowest mean level of sitting. During two non-workdays, movers had the highest mean level of walking as well as the lowest mean level of sitting and sleep time.

The uniqueness of this study was that it analysed ICU nurses' physical activity profiles and associations with resilience using identified clusters. However, the small number of participants limited this study's ability to determine significant relationships between resilience and the grouped physical activity profiles.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of measures designed to increase physical activity in women in secure psychiatric care.

A range of interventions (environmental and motivational) designed to increase participation in physical activities were introduced on two secure wards for women. A pre-post design assessed frequency, duration and intensity of physical activity, attendance at physical activity sessions, exercise motivation, exercise-related mood, attitudes to exercise and health and biological indices. Measures collected over a three-month baseline period were repeated six months post-intervention.

Significant changes occurred in both attitudes to exercise and health, exercise motivation and exercise behaviour following change initiatives. With the exception of resting pulse rate and perceived exertion, the increased level of activity was not reflected in changes in body mass index, body fat or body muscle.

Management led, multi-disciplinary interventions to increase physical activity can have a positive impact on both lifestyle behaviours and physical health.

This study adds to a small literature on increasing physical activity in women in secure psychiatric settings where obstacles to change are formidable.

This paper provides an update on the major developments in exercise recommendations for young people, and in particular, focuses on the most recent guidelines which have been developed in England by the Health Education Authority (HEA). The recommendations are contained within the HEA’s policy framework for the promotion of health‐enhancing physical activity for young people, Young and Active?, which aims to maximise the opportunity for participation in health‐enhancing physical activity. The paper discusses the practical application of the guidelines and provides ideas as to how they can be implemented by physical educators and health professionals. It proposes that the recommendations are more realistic, flexible, appealing and attainable than previous guidelines and that they signal significant progress in the field of exercise prescription for young people. However, cautions and messages highlighted in earlier reviews in the area still hold.