The Engaged4Life Study: Enhancing the Health-Promoting Effects of Older Adults' Activity Portfolios
- Conditions
- Sedentary Lifestyle
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Technology-assisted self-monitoringBehavioral: Workshop and Peer Mentoring
- Registration Number
- NCT03337204
- Lead Sponsor
- Boston College
- Brief Summary
This study designs and tests a multi-component intervention- Engaged4Life- designed to enhance physical activity (PA), cognitive activity (CA), social interaction (SI) and personal meaning (PM) in low-engaged community-dwelling older adults' everyday life activities through: 1) technology-assisted self-monitoring of PA, CA, SI, and PM activity engagement, 2) psycho-education + goal setting (via a 3-hour workshop), and 3) one-on-one peer mentoring (via phone 2X/week for 3 weeks) to support goal implementation. 15 adults age 65 or older will be randomized to receive all 3 intervention components and 15 to receive only the technology-assisted self-monitoring component.
- Detailed Description
The Social Model of Health Promotion posits that physical, cognitive, and social activity embedded within activities can help maintain or even restore cognitive and functional health in later life and stimulating activities that carry personal meaning or confer a sense of purpose may have stronger health-promoting effects than activities that are just stimulating. While the Experience Corps program-a community volunteering program for older adults designed to explicitly embed these characteristics-is an effective model for health-promotion, this program is not, as of yet, widely accessible. Further, formal volunteering is not always an activity that is attractive or accessible for older adults, and other interventions aimed at promoting social role involvement among older adults have shown only limited effectiveness in doing so. Thus, the current study explores whether it is possible to create an individually-tailored intervention that encourages older adults to 1) carefully examine their existing "activity portfolios" (technology-assisted self-monitoring), 2) empowers them with the knowledge and skills to make improvements upon their "activity portfolios" by enhancing/supplementing activities in ways that increase their overall levels of physical activity, cognitive activity, social interaction, and personal meaning (psycho-education + goal setting via a workshop), and 3) provides social support through peers in implementing their goals (one-on-one peer mentoring). Targeting a sample of community dwelling older adults who are at-risk for adverse cognitive and physical health outcomes due to their sedentary activity levels, we aim to influence positive changes in overall health and well-being in a way that is more practical, effective, and sustainable than prior interventions.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 30
- Age of 65 or older
- Low-to-moderate engagement levels as determined by a score of <10 on a modified version of the Health Enhancement Lifestyle Profile (HELP) (Hwang, 2010), where only the domains of exercise, social and productive activity, and leisure were included
- A resident of Waltham, MA
- Willing to be randomly assigned to study arm
- Available for relevant study dates
- Age of 64 or younger
- Living in an assisted living or nursing home facility
- Significant cognitive impairment (those with >2 errors on the six-item screener by Callahan, Unverzagt, Hui, Perkins, & Hendrie, 2002)
- Reports that a doctor has told them that it is unsafe to participate in physical activity
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Engaged4Life Workshop and Peer Mentoring Participants randomly assigned to this group receive: 1) technology-assisted self-monitoring of daily activity via a Fitbit Zip worn daily (for 8 weeks) and a daily tablet self-report survey (completed for a 7-day period at baseline and a second 7-day period 4-weeks later); and 2) a one-time, 3hr workshop and peer mentoring (via phone 2X/week for 3 weeks). The workshop includes psychoeducation on the relationship between active engagement and health and well-being and a goal setting activity focused on carefully assessing and then make improvements upon existing "activity portfolios". Peer mentors provide support as participants implement their goals. Engaged4Life Technology-assisted self-monitoring Participants randomly assigned to this group receive: 1) technology-assisted self-monitoring of daily activity via a Fitbit Zip worn daily (for 8 weeks) and a daily tablet self-report survey (completed for a 7-day period at baseline and a second 7-day period 4-weeks later); and 2) a one-time, 3hr workshop and peer mentoring (via phone 2X/week for 3 weeks). The workshop includes psychoeducation on the relationship between active engagement and health and well-being and a goal setting activity focused on carefully assessing and then make improvements upon existing "activity portfolios". Peer mentors provide support as participants implement their goals. Technology-assisted self-monitoring only Technology-assisted self-monitoring Participants randomly assigned to this group receive: 1) technology-assisted self-monitoring of daily activity via a Fitbit Zip worn daily (for 8 weeks) and a daily tablet self-report survey (completed for a 7-day period at baseline and a second 7-day period 4-weeks later). While it is expected that wearing the Fitbit and raising consciousness of activity engagement may initially result in behavior change, it is not expected to have a sustained impact on outcomes over time.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Physical Activity: Steps per day worn daily for 8 weeks Measured using the Fitbit Zip pedometer
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Social interaction (SI) (assessed daily) asked daily for 7 days at baseline and again for 7 days during week 4 Social interaction (SI) questions focused on the quantity (the number of social interactions the respondent had that day, including in-person, by telephone, or by video, but NOT including email, text, or social media) and the quality (whether the participant had a problematic social interaction that day and the perceived stress of the problematic social interaction; and whether the participant had a positive social interaction that day and the perceived positivity of that social interaction) of daily social interactions.
Cognitive activity (CA)(assessed daily) asked daily for 7 days at baseline and again for 7 days during week 4 Cognitive activity (CA) assessed daily was measured as respondents' assessment of the number of cognitively stimulating activities they had participated in that day from a list of 13 activities plus one possible write-in "other" activity.
Personal meaning (PM) (assessed daily) asked daily for 7 days at baseline and again for 7 days during week 4 Respondents were asked 4 questions around whether they did anything that day that 1) benefited others, 2) left them feeling personally satisfied or accomplished, 3) felt significant in the broader scheme of things, or 4) was personally meaningful. Response options included 0 (not at all), 1 (to some extent), and 3 (to a great extent). Respondents were also asked a more global question: How much did you feel your life had purpose today? Th response scale ranged from 1 to 7 .