Words and Actions
Behavior Change: Improving Older Adult Quality of Life through Walk4Fitness View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session John Bishop, Ellen Driber-Hassall
The Walk4Fitness (W4F) program is specifically designed for older adults. Program objectives instilled the significance of consistent participation in a physically, cognitively, and socially stimulating/dynamic walking program and nurtured achievement ignited by sustained behavior change. Further, W4F sought to improve health outcomes through diverse research interventions as a health promotion activity. W4F’s practical relevance is improved health outcomes through sustained practice of comprehensive forms of walking. Critical Gerontology Theory blended with W4F, resulted in a mixed-methods research amalgamation of the natural sciences and the humanities to positively impact the human condition. Gerontology professionals comprise the target audience, as the science of aging demands continual thought, action, and persistence to promote health equity. When W4F incorporates a research objective, mixed-methods techniques are prescribed due to the ability to assimilate multiple forms of data. W4F was designed for ordered stages: Getting Started, Execution/Implementation, Walking: Whatcha Gotta Know, Paperwork and Reports, and References. Participants received sequenced educational handouts explaining the knowledge activities. They included: the use of equipment, walking techniques and forms, the benefits of walking, general techniques, and the physiological impacts of walking. All Walk leaders and ~80% of participants who completed the twelve-week program provided effectiveness evaluations. Results include: reported participants’ health improvements, transitioned casual walkers into walking athletes, sustained behavior change, and recognition of W4F as a viable physical activity and research platform. Two conclusions revealed a reported program shortfall with ineffective video-based walk leader training and secondly, program success as a vehicle for behavior change.
The Role of ICT in Fostering Active Ageing during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Emma Garavaglia, Alessandra Gaia, Federica Cretazzo
Over the last years, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated physical distancing measures aimed at the containment of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, limited the opportunities for older people (as well as to other segments of society) to actively participate in social life. We hypothesize that, among older men and women who before the COVID-19 pandemic were active (e.g., engaged in the local community, participating in the labour market, volunteering activities, and to informal care), those lacking access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) (and less experienced in using them) experienced deeper challenges to maintain their level of activity. Hence, less digitally savvy old men and women may have faced inequalities of opportunities to age actively (compared to their more digitally savvy peers). We test this hypothesis using large scale longitudinal data. In particular, focussing on European older people, we analyse data from the Survey for Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Waves 1-8 along with data from the special SHARE COVID-19 Waves 8 and 9. Our aim is to determine the role of digital technologies in fostering active ageing in later life during the Covid-19 pandemic. While we adopt a broad definition of active ageing which transcend paid work and physical activity to include volunteering and informal caregiving, limitation in data availability do not allow to fully grasp the range of ways in which older people engage within their communities; as a matter of fact, we conclude our talk proposing a critical theoretical reflection on the concept of active ageing.
