<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<italic><bold>Introduction. </bold></italic>During the COVID-19 pandemic, comprehensive social distancing policies, such as prohibiting agglomerations, travel restrictions, and staying-at-home recommendations, were adopted by several countries. Due to these lockdown measures, older adults decreased daily physical activity levels, consequently increasing sedentary behavior. This pilot feasibility study aimed to explore the feasibility of implementation (i.e., adherence, safety) and acceptability (i.e., satisfaction, intent to continue use, perceived appropriateness) of an online face-to-face supervised exercise intervention in a sample of older adults.
<italic><bold>Material and Methods. </bold></italic>Seven older adults (mean age: 68 ± 5 years; 38% females) completed the study. The exercise program was composed of two 45-min sessions per week for five consecutive weeks. Participants followed a remote exercise program in Zoom©. After each training session, both participants and the fitness trainer completed a questionnaire designed to investigate the acceptability and feasibility of the exercise program.
<italic><bold>Results. </bold></italic>Six out of seven participants (i.e., 86%) attended 100% of the workouts. No experience of fall/injury occurred during the training. All the participants agreed or strongly agreed to have the competence to perform the proposed exercise (range 100-42.9%), and this perception increased at the end of the intervention.
<italic><bold>Conclusions. </bold></italic>Our results suggest that an online physical exercise program using web technology seems to be feasible and acceptable to independent older adults. The program does not require specific equipment, shows a high adherence level, and seems safe. Moreover, both the participants and the fitness trainer reported a high level of satisfaction with the activity.
</abstract>

Introduction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, comprehensive social distancing policies, such as prohibiting agglomerations, travel restrictions, and staying-at-home recommendations, were adopted by several countries. Due to these lockdown measures, older adults decreased daily physical activity levels, consequently increasing sedentary behavior. This pilot feasibility study aimed to explore the feasibility of implementation (i.e., adherence, safety) and acceptability (i.e., satisfaction, intent to continue use, perceived appropriateness) of an online face-to-face supervised exercise intervention in a sample of older adults.
Material and Methods. Seven older adults (mean age: 68 ± 5 years; 38% females) completed the study. The exercise program was composed of two 45-min sessions per week for five consecutive weeks. Participants followed a remote exercise program in Zoom©. After each training session, both participants and the fitness trainer completed a questionnaire designed to investigate the acceptability and feasibility of the exercise program.
Results. Six out of seven participants (i.e., 86%) attended 100% of the workouts. No experience of fall/injury occurred during the training. All the participants agreed or strongly agreed to have the competence to perform the proposed exercise (range 100-42.9%), and this perception increased at the end of the intervention.
Conclusions. Our results suggest that an online physical exercise program using web technology seems to be feasible and acceptable to independent older adults. The program does not require specific equipment, shows a high adherence level, and seems safe. Moreover, both the participants and the fitness trainer reported a high level of satisfaction with the activity.

Physical Activities at Distance: Feasibility and Acceptability of Online Remote Exercise Intervention in Older Adults

Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine, and Movement

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Introduction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, comprehensive social distancing policies, such as prohibiting agglomerations, travel restrictions, and...

Physical Activities at Distance: Feasibility and Acceptability of Online Remote Exercise Intervention in Older Adults

Publié en ligne: 30 sept. 2022

Pages: 23 - 28

Reçu: 25 févr. 2022

Accepté: 06 juin 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2022-0017

Mots clés
home-based, exercise, elderly, COVID-19, lockdown, social isolation

© 2022 Alina Klonova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Physical Activities at Distance: Feasibility and Acceptability of Online Remote Exercise Intervention in Older Adults

Publié en ligne: 30 sept. 2022

Pages: 23 - 28

Reçu: 25 févr. 2022

Accepté: 06 juin 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2022-0017

Mots cléshome-based, exercise, elderly, COVID-19, lockdown, social isolation

© 2022 Alina Klonova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
home-based, exercise, elderly, COVID-19, lockdown, social isolation