Center for Translational Research on Aging and Mobility

University Of Alabama At Birmingham, Birmingham AL

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract The proposed study will assess the feasibility of a short-term, home-based DVD exercise program among a small sample of sedentary older Black veterans with three or more chronic health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and osteoarthritis. The specific aims are (1) to assess the feasibility of the exercise program, compared to the usual standard of care, among 40 sedentary older Black veterans with three or more chronic health conditions; (2) to compare the intervention group to the waitlisted control group on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and subjective wellbeing (SWB); and (3) to employ focus groups to explore attitudes and feelings about the home-based DVD exercise program, as well as facilitators and barriers to the exercise program. The proposed study is relevant to the mission of the National Institute on Aging because it seeks to improve the HRQOL and SWB in an understudied population of older adults. The specific aims will be met by conducting a random controlled trial, mixed-method, quantitative-qualitative sequential design study. Participants will be randomized to either the intervention group or the waitlist control group. All participants will be asked to complete a pre-assessment. Participants in the intervention group will be instructed to complete a 30 minute assigned exercise session once a day, Monday through Friday for 8 weeks. At the end of 8 weeks, both groups will complete a post-assessment on health, HRQOL, SWB, physical activity (PA), and physical function (PF). Post-study, the intervention group will have the option to participate in a focus group. At the end of 8 weeks, the waitlist control group will receive the exercise equipment with instructions. A post-assessment will not follow. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the characteristics of the participants. Attrition will be measured based on the number of intervention group participants that withdraw and the number of sessions completed. The outcomes include feasibility, pre- and post-intervention HRQOL, SWB, PA, and PF scores. Survival analysis will be used to examine the predictors of completion (Aim 1). Data will be censored to account for dropouts. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests or paired samples t-tests will be used to compare pre- and post-intervention outcomes within-groups to determine significant changes on measures (Aims 1 and 2). Two- tailed tests will be used under the significance level of 0.05. ANCOVAs will be conducted to determine the effect of the intervention on HRQOL and SWB (Aim 2). Clinically meaningful change in HRQOL and SWB will be determined based on current standards. The results of the ANCOVAs will be used to compute effect sizes for future power analyses. Results of the inferential tests will be converted to an effect size estimate to assess the magnitude of the intervention's effect (Aims 1 and 2). Qualitative content analysis will be used to examine the feasibility (Aim 1) and to identify facilitators and barriers to the exercise program (Aim 3). Future studies on the effect of the intervention among a more diverse sample of veterans will be explored.