Intervening for Increased Quality of Life Among Older People in Sweden

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden and other countries have become aware of how life has changed; the world is now a "hybrid world" where many daily activities have moved online. The forced physical isolation has also led to an increase in depression and loneliness, especially among elderly people. Traditional interventions often involve physical contact, and there are valuable lessons to be learned from this situation, where physical isolation is forced, in order to mitigate the consequences both during and after this pandemic.

The overall purpose of this project is to study physical activity as a way to engage in and maintain an active lifestyle and /or increase the quality of life and limit mental health problems for older people and to study how scalability, accessibility, commitment, and adherence can be improved with flexible programs with digital tools. The specific research question is:

Is there a difference between the online exercise program and the onsite exercise program in terms of physical activity, balance, motivation, quality of life and mental health?

The results are expected to give insights into how to increase physical activity using flexible programs with digital options and to maintain quality of life among the elderly. By giving the elderly population different options for being physically active and thereby empowering this group, this project contributes to creating a socially sustainable community in which elderly citizens are included.