Physical Activity Participation in Older Adults: An Expert Statement

Introduction
Physical activity is defined as “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure” (Langhammer and Bergland, & Rydwik, 2018). Adopting a physically active lifestyle is linked to several positive health outcomes. Besides, it becomes an even more important component for the elderly. The elderly are less likely to be engaged in physical activities when compared to the overall population as they opt for a more sedentary lifestyle. They must be mobilized to participate in these activities because of the health benefits they would gain. Enablers are the factors that are central to enhancing, supporting, facilitating, or fostering participation in physical activity. Enablers come in varied perspectives including personal characteristics and social motivators such as support groups. Similarly, barriers appear within these metrics with environmental, social, and personal levels acting as hindrances in their way. On the other hand, a couple of theories including self-determination theory and the theory of planned behavior endear to explain the behavioral response from older people in relevance to their participation in physical activities.
Enablers and Challenges for Physical Activity for Older Adults
Personal characteristics are identified as the most fundamental source of motivation and inspiration as well as the hindrance because the individual’s innate state determines their commitment to the cause (Bethancourt, Rosenberg, Beatty, & Arterburn, 2014). The person’s ill-health, for instance, can be an enabler or motivator depending on their perspective of the situation. Under ordinary circumstances, ill-health conditions such as overall poor health, cancer, musculoskeletal conditions, and urinary incontinence would hinder the individual from participating in physical activities (Franco et al., 2015). The same goes for osteoarthritis, which induces significant pain for the person. However, others may perceive their ill-health as an opportunity to enhance their mental, physical, psychological, and cognitive well-being. A study in New Zealand indicated that some elderly persons participated in these exercises to attain an increased sense of self-control, breathe well, feel happy, and enjoy the physical activity (Rosenkranz & Kolt, 2013). Older adults with arthritis and hypertension could choose this path and even continue this path despite the pain, fatigue, tiredness, dizziness, muscle weakness, and shortness of breath (Matthews et al., 2009). Individuals with positive expectations tend to immerse themselves in such activities. They happen to have an advanced level of self-perception. Willpower becomes an integral concept and they are very much unlikely to be lazy in their pursuit of physical fitness.
Similarly, social factors have a vital contribution to this development. Social influence encapsulates support from people in the immediate surrounding. In this case, encouragement from health professionals, family, friends, and peers comes in handy as it advances the person’s zeal and participation in these activities (Cavill & Foster, 2018). Peers and family have a unique impact on the individual as they consist of the most trusted group by the person. The social influence could also arise from conducting exercise regimes with them. Reports indicate that groups are likely to increase a person’s participation in an event to about 150 minutes weekly thereby involving in moderate-intensity physical activities (Macniven et al., 2014). Planning such activities as a group eases the individual through possible mental hesitations and procrastination that could arise. One is psyched to perform these activities because it alleviates the ‘am alone’ mentality related circumstances (Moschny, Platen, Klaaßen-Mielke, Trampisch, & Hinrichs, 2011). This procedure guarantees that they have individuals with whom they can relate their situation quickly. Social factors become ineffective when social support is lacking as well as unavailability of role models who motivate these individuals to partake in exercises.
Environmental factors could also intervene as enablers or hindrances to these possibilities. In this regard, safe environments that are better grounds for conducting such exercises because they are free from traffic as well as crime. The necessary facilities must be available to act as an enabling factor (Pettersson, Malmqvist, Gromark, & Wijk, 2020). In other words, a conducive environment promotes the articulation of the exercising regimes quickly. Since most elder patients are in nursing homes, administrative functions are obligated to ensure they have a conducive environment for their exercises. Nevertheless, in the quest to do so, they face major barriers such as tailor, everyone, to their respective and pressure to transport them to their classes.
Behavioral Determinants of Change for Older Adults for Participating in Physical Activity
Physical activity has been widely regarded as an important integral element in an individual’s life and more so, in developing their psychological, mental, and emotional capabilities. Behavioral determinants are central to the successful incorporation of physical activities in one’s life. In this regard, behavioral determinants constitute “those that can be eliminated or reduces lifestyle or behavioral changes” (Condello, 2017). Behavioral determinants vary with the age group meaning the ones that affect the elderly are different from the kids’ and adolescents’.
One of the most popular behavioral determinants in this case study is smoking. Smoking is one of the most predominant behaviors among the elderly group. A Commit to Quit study was conducted among randomly selected women smokers. The investigative study was set in such a way that they would “receive a smoking cessation intervention alone or combined with vigorous-intensity exercise intervention” (King, 2001). Those in the smoking-cessation-alone received much more attention from the additional staff placed at their disposal. On the other hand, those in the smoking-cessation-plus-exercise category showed a unique and positive behavior in that they had “better continuous smoking abstinence rates at the end of the 8-week treatment relative to the smoking-cessation-alone condition” (King, 2001). This category of people increased their fitness levels and also, attained more suitable weight measures.
Another case for elderly people lies in their dietary patterns. Another survey dubbed the Working Healthy Trial involving 5107 participants was conducted over 2.5 years to ascertain the relationship between engagements in physical activities and dietary patterns (King, 2002). The study demonstrated that there was an increase in physical activity involvement in congruence with improvement in dietary patterns. Individuals with these results were less sedentary. The study was also shortchanged and relatively incomprehensive as the reverse hypothetical situation was never evaluated. Either way, this small study shows that older people gain much more from life if they incorporate physical activities in their lives.
Theories of Motivation and Behavior with Relevance to Participation in Physical Activity with Older Adults
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
SDT is an ideal theory because it emphasizes not only the quantity but also the quality of motivation that is fundamental to the engagement in physical activity behaviors. The quantity of motivation considers internal and external pressures that may arise and which in the end, are ineffective for the long-term engagement of the behavior thereof (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2007). SDT literature takes into account three broad types of motivation, which include amotivation, controlled motivation as well as self-determined motivation. Among the three, self-determined motivation is the one with the greatest level of quality. This assertion arises because it captures the intrinsic and extrinsic (reflect the high degree of internalization of the value of the behavior) reasons for participating in an activity. Controlled motivation encapsulates “extrinsic reasons that reflect a low degree of internalization of the value of the behavior” (Ntoumanis, Thorgersen-Ntoumani, and Quested, & Chatzisarantis, 2018). Finally, there is amotivation, which offers a reflection on the lack of either controlled motivation or self-determination in engaging with a certain activity. An example of this would be an individual who is running but has no concrete reason in doing so.
Self-determined motivation is quite apparent when individuals achieve three primal psychological needs (Raccoyan & Deci, 2007). According to Ryan and Deci (2000), SDT is central to the attainment of crucial innate psychological needs in human beings...