An exploration of walking activity among older psychiatric inpatients

Abstract

Physical activity can lead to a longer life expectancy and is associated with preserved independence and quality of life (QOL). The health consequences of being physically inactive for older adults include depression, decreased mobility and decreased QOL. Despite this, recent observational studies of older adults' activity levels have highlighted that older adults in care are remaining sedentary. The aim of the study was to audit the walking activity levels of 53 older adult psychiatric in-patients before and after a health promotion activity which advocated the benefits of walking. Each patient wore a pedometer for three consecutive days. At baseline, only 21% (11/53) were walking the daily amount recommended for older adults. After the intervention this increased to 32%, (15/47) although a total of 33 (70%) patients increased the amount of daily walking (P = 0.002). This study identified that most older adults in the sample did not walk enough to gain the health benefi ts associated with walking. However, there was an encouraging increase in the amount of walking older adults did following some health promotion activity, which warrants further investigation.