Evaluation of the Healthy Beat Accupunch (HBA) Exercise Program for the Community Older Adults

Phase I: A cluster randomized controlled trial was used to test the effects of a six-month, instructor-led Healthy Beat Accupunch (HBA) exercise program on the perceived health status and sleep quality of the community-dwelling older adults. Through the use of convenience sampling strategy, eight community care centers with 232 older adults in Kaohsiung were recruited and randomly assigned based on their community care centers to a HBA experimental group or a wait-list control group. Participants in the experimental group received the HBA exercise program led by trained and certified instructors, three times per week, 40 minutes per practice for six months; participants in the wait-list control group continued with their regular daily activities. One pre-test and two post-tests, three months apart, were conducted. Phase II: Using the same method as in the phase I, participants from the phase I continued practicing the HBA exercise program, but guided by a DVD, for another six months. The feasibility, compliance, and effectiveness of the DVD-led HBA exercise program on the community-dwelling older adults were tested, and another two post-tests, three months apart, were conducted on the same outcome measurements as in the phase I.