Why older adults spend time sedentary and break their sedentary behaviour: a mixed methods approach using life-logging equipment

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Why older adults spend time sedentary and break their sedentary behaviour: a mixed methods approach using life-logging equipment Manon L. Dontje1*, Calum Leask1, Juliet Harvey1, Dawn Skelton1 and Sebastien Chastin1 1 Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom Background Older adults spend a large part of the day being sedentary, but several national and international health guidelines explicitly recommend that older adults should reduce their sedentary time and break prolonged periods of sitting to promote healthy ageing and well-being. In order to refine the guidelines and develop effective interventions, it is crucial to identify when, why and how older adults are most likely to be able to change their sitting habits. Aim The aim of this study was to utilise life-logging equipment (objective activity monitor and camera) to understand reasons for older people to remain sedentary and to break periods of prolonged sitting. Methods In this mixed-methods study, 30 older adults (mean (±SD) age 74.0±5.3 years) were asked to recollect their believed reasons for (breaking) sedentary behaviour. In addition, they were presented with a personal storyboard with objective records (1 day activity monitor [activPAL] and time-lapse camera images [ViconRevue]) of their daily behaviour and asked, during a semi-structured interview, to give their individual interpretation of their objectively measured sedentary behaviour and explain their actual reasons for (breaking) sedentary behaviour. The interview transcriptions were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results The most frequent reasons that people believed kept them sedentary were television/radio (48.3%), fatigue (34.5%) and health status (31.0%). The factors most often mentioned as actual reasons were eating/drinking (96.6%), television/radio (89.7%) and reading/crosswords (75.9%). Domestic chores (55.2%), walking (37.9%) and socialising (20.7%) were most often mentioned as reasons that people believed made them break their sedentary behaviour. The factors that were most often mentioned as actual reasons were domestic chores (86.2%), food/tea preparation (82.8%), and performing simple tasks (75.9%). Conclusions It can be concluded that a mixed methods approach, by combining objective data of an activity monitor with contextual information from time-lapse photos and subjective information from people regarding their own behaviour, is an useful method to provide indepth information about (breaking) sedentary behaviour in older adults. The results of this study showed that there is a difference in what older adults believe that are reasons for them to remain sedentary or break their sedentary time and what their actual reasons are. A personal story board based on objective measurements of sedentary behaviour can be a useful method to raise awareness and find individual and tailored ways to reduce sedentary behaviour and to increase the number of breaks in sedentary behaviour without much interference in daily routine. Acknowledgements N/A References N/A Keywords: Sedentary behaviour, Life-logging, acceleromter, accelerometer, Time-lapse camera, Qualitative interview, mixed methods research, older adults Conference: 2nd Behaviour Change Conference: Digital Health and Wellbeing, London, United Kingdom, 24 Feb - 25 Feb, 2016. Presentation Type: Poster presentation Topic: Academic Citation: Dontje ML, Leask C, Harvey J, Skelton D and Chastin S (2016). Why older adults spend time sedentary and break their sedentary behaviour: a mixed methods approach using life-logging equipment. Front. Public Health. Conference Abstract: 2nd Behaviour Change Conference: Digital Health and Wellbeing. doi: 10.3389/conf.FPUBH.2016.01.00040 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 02 Dec 2015; Published Online: 09 Jan 2016. * Correspondence: PhD. Manon L Dontje, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom, manon.dontje@gcu.ac.uk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Manon L Dontje Calum Leask Juliet Harvey Dawn Skelton Sebastien Chastin Google Manon L Dontje Calum Leask Juliet Harvey Dawn Skelton Sebastien Chastin Google Scholar Manon L Dontje Calum Leask Juliet Harvey Dawn Skelton Sebastien Chastin PubMed Manon L Dontje Calum Leask Juliet Harvey Dawn Skelton Sebastien Chastin Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.