1,720,959 research outputs found
Experiencing locality based group exercise provision for older people: a qualitative study
No full textLiving longer brings the challenge of ageing well. Older people who participate in exercise have better health and social outcomes, functional ability and quality of life. A key challenge is to reverse the trajectory for older people to reduce activity by 50% from age 60 to 85 and promote exercise alongside everyday living. This thesis explores the views and experience of older people and exercise in a local context, to better understand and inform practice and policy.An ethnographically informed approach was used to understand the experiences of older people who participate in exercise in a local context, using focus groups, interviews and participation observation. Focus groups and interviews were held with older people who regularly undertake exercise (Tai Chi, falls prevention, and Pulmonary Rehabilitation) and those who do not exercise, staff and commissioners. Interviews and focus group data were analysed using thematic analysis.Key themes identified in the literature, which concurred with the study findings for participation in exercise were knowledge about exercise, life course experience, and the capability of the instructors. Novel findings from this study were the seasonal variation in exercise uptake, the concept of describing concordance rather than adherence to exercise to enable genuine co-production, the impact of staff advising older people to stop exercising without offering a substitute, and the identification of behaviour change at source, intervention and policy level.In conclusion, most prescribers of exercise were poorly informed of national guidelines or local provision for older people.Some instructors lacked skills in supporting older people with their exercise engagement.Older people hold views around exercise which conflict with the evidence base
Epidemiology of Sarcopenia and Frailty
No full textSarcopenia and frailty are common in older persons and pose particular challenges for health and social care systems especially in the context of global population ageing. Sarcopenia, the loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength and function with age is associated with adverse individual physical and metabolic changes contributing to morbidity and mortality. The health and socioeconomic implications of sarcopenia are also considerable. Sarcopenia is a core component of physical frailty that together impact negatively on an individual’s capability to live independently. Frailty is a biological syndrome of low reserve and resistance to stressors resulting from cumulative declines across multiple physiological systems that collectively predispose an individual to adverse outcomes. Frailty develops along a continuum from independence through to death as physiological reserves progressively diminish an individual’s capacity to recover from an acute insult or illness. Managing sarcopenia and frailty involves the multidisciplinary led completion of a comprehensive care plan that is patient centred, responsive to the needs of the patient and adaptable therefore enabling an individual to maintain their independence
Evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of virtual group exercise for older adults delivered by trained volunteers: the ImPACt study protocol
No full textINTRODUCTION: Physical activity is important for healthy ageing. Despite strong evidence on the benefits of physical activity for health and well-being, physical inactivity remains a significant problem among older adults. This study aims to determine the feasibility and acceptability of implementing an online volunteer-led group exercise for older adults.METHODS: A quasi-experimental mixed-methods approach will be used in this study. A training programme will be developed to train volunteers to deliver online group exercises to older adults aged >65 years (n=30). The primary outcome is the feasibility of implementing the intervention. This will be assessed by the number of volunteers recruited, trained, and retained at the end of the study, and the number of exercise sessions delivered and completed by participants. Secondary outcomes include physical activity levels measured using the Community Health Model Activities Programme for Seniors questionnaire, Barthel Index, EQ-5D-5L as a measure of health-related quality of life, SARC-F to determine sarcopenia status, and PRIMSA-7 to determine frailty status. Outcomes will be measured at baseline and at 6 months.Qualitative interviews will be conducted with volunteers(n=5), older adults (n=10) and family members (n=5) to explore their views on the intervention.ANALYSIS: Simple descriptive statistics will be used to describe participant characteristics, the feasibility of the study and the impact of the intervention on health outcomes. Parametric(t-test) or non-parametric(Mann-Whitney U test) statistics will be used to analyse continuous variables. χ2 test will be used for categorical variables. Qualitative data will be analysed using an inductive thematic analysis approach.ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study received ethical approval from the University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee and Research Integrity and Governance committee (ID: 52 967 .A1). Study findings will be made available to service users, voluntary organisations and other researchers who may be interested in implementing the intervention.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04672200.</p
Volunteer-led online group exercise for older adults: a feasibility and acceptability study
No full textIntroduction: the health benefits of physical activity for older people are well recognised and include reduction in falls, improvement in frailty status and physical function. Nonetheless, physical inactivity remains a significant problem among older adults. This study aimed to determine the feasibility and acceptability of implementing online volunteer-led group exercise for community-dwelling older adults.Methods: this pre-post mixed methods study was conducted among older adults attending community social clubs. Eligible participants were aged ≥ 65 years, able to walk independently, and able to provide written consent. The intervention consisted of a once weekly volunteer-led online group chair-based exercise. The primary outcomes were the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Secondary outcomes included physical activity levels measured using the Community Health Model Activities Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) questionnaire, functional status (Barthel Index), and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L). Outcomes were measured at baseline and at 6 months. Trials registration: NCT04672200.Results: nineteen volunteers were recruited, 15 completed training and 9 were retained (mean age 68 years, 7 female). Thirty participants (mean age 77 years, 27 female) received the intervention and attended 54% (IQR 37-67) of exercise sessions. One minor adverse event was reported. Participants had no significant changes in secondary outcome measures, with a trend towards improvement in physical activity levels. The intervention was acceptable to volunteers, participants, and staff. The seated exercises were perceived as safe, manageable and enjoyable. Volunteers were relatable role models providing positive vicarious experiences that improved participants confidence to exercise within a friendly, non-judgmental environment. Technological issues, or reluctance to learn how to use technology were barriers to the intervention. The social interactions and sense of belonging motivated participation.Conclusions: trained volunteers can safely deliver online group exercise for community-dwelling older adults and the intervention was feasible and acceptable to older adults, volunteers and club staff
Use of the electronic Frailty Index in primary healthcare: a pilot study
No full textBackground Identifying frailty is key to providing appropriate treatment for older people at high risk of adverse health outcomes. Screening tools proposed for primary healthcare often involve additional workload. The electronic Frailty Index (eFI) has the potential to overcome this issue.Aim To assess the feasibility and acceptability of using eFI in primary healthcare.Design and Setting Pilot study in one primary healthcare practice in England in 2016.Methods Use of the electronic Frailty Index (eFI) on the primary care TPP SystmOne database was explained to staff at the practice where a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) Clinic was being trialled. The practice data manager ran an eFI report for all patients (N=6,670). Date of birth was used to identify patients aged ≥75 years (n=589). The eFI was determined for patients attending the CGA Clinic (n=18). Results Practice staff ran the eFI reports in 5 minutes, which they reported was feasible and acceptable. The eFI range was 0.03 – 0.61 (mean 0.23) for all patients aged ≥75 years (mean 83 years; range 75 – 102 years). For CGA patients (mean 82 years; range75 – 91 years) the eFI range was 0.19 – 0.53 (mean 0.33). Conclusions It was feasible and acceptable to use the eFI in this pilot study. The higher mean eFI in the CGA patients demonstrated construct validity for frailty identification. Practice staff recognised the potential for the eFI to identify the top 2% of vulnerable patients for Avoiding Unplanned Admissions.<br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
