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The feasibility of using pedometers and brief advice to increase activity in sedentary older women - a pilot study

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SugdenetalBMCHealthServicesResearch2008_8_169.pdf (274.2Kb)
Date
08/08/2008
Author
Sugden, Jacqui A.
Sniehotta, Falko F.
Donnan, Peter T.
Boyle, Paul
Johnston, Derek W.
McMurdo, Marion E. T.
Keywords
Physical-activity
Adults
Walking
Intervention
Health
Home
Accuracy
Medicine
Exercise
Efficacy
RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
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Abstract
Background: People over the age of 70 carry the greatest burden of chronic disease, disability and health care use. Participation in physical activity is crucial for health, and walking accounts for much of the physical activity undertaken by sedentary individuals. Pedometers are a useful motivational tool to encourage increased walking and they are cheap and easy to use. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of the use of pedometers plus a theory-based intervention to assist sedentary older women to accumulate increasing amounts of physical activity, mainly through walking. Methods: Female participants over the age of 70 were recruited from primary care and randomised to receive either pedometer plus a theory-based intervention or a theory-based intervention alone. The theory-based intervention consisted of motivational techniques, goal-setting, barrier identification and self-monitoring with pedometers and daily diaries. The pedometer group were further randomised to one of three target groups: a 10%, 15% or 20% monthly increase in step count to assess the achievability and acceptability of a range of targets. The primary outcome was change in daily activity levels measured by accelerometry. Secondary outcome measures were lower limb function, health related quality of life, anxiety and depression. Results: 54 participants were recruited into the study, with an average age of 76. There were 9 drop outs, 45 completing the study. All participants in the pedometer group found the pedometers easy to use and there was good compliance with diary keeping (96% in the pedometer group and 83% in the theory-based intervention alone group). There was a strong correlation (0.78) between accelerometry and pedometer step counts i.e. indicating that walking was the main physical activity amongst participants. There was a greater increase in activity (accelerometry) amongst those in the 20% target pedometer group compared to the other groups, although not reaching statistical significance (p = 0.192). Conclusion: We have demonstrated that it is feasible to use pedometers and provide theory-based advice to community dwelling sedentary older women to increase physical activity levels and a larger study is planned to investigate this further.
Citation
Sugden , J A , Sniehotta , F F , Donnan , P T , Boyle , P , Johnston , D W & McMurdo , M E T 2008 , ' The feasibility of using pedometers and brief advice to increase activity in sedentary older women - a pilot study ' , BMC Health Services Research , vol. 8 , 169 . https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-169
Publication
BMC Health Services Research
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-169
ISSN
1472-6963
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2008 Sugden et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=50649085215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3254

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