HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Baltimore, Maryland, USA or Virtually from your home or work.

8th Edition of Nursing World Conference

October 17-19, 2024 | Baltimore, USA

October 17 -19, 2024 | Baltimore, USA
NWC 2018

Cognition and physical activity integrated program for older women

Speaker at Nursing Conferences - Soon Rim Suh
Kyungpook National University, Korea, Republic of
Title : Cognition and physical activity integrated program for older women

Abstract:

Background: As the lifespan of older population is prolonged, their cognitive impairment and sedentary activity are project to increase and cause a lower life quality and higher dependency, which poses an important public challenge. Physical activity (PA) is suggested as one of the key strategies to prevent cognitive impairment and sedentary activity. Bidirectional associations have been suggested between PA and cognitive functions in previous studies, there is no direct evidence for the effect of cognitive function on PA, nor any PA program based on the cognition stimulation. Cognition stimulation can be one of the most effective means to enhance the cognitive function and PA of the older adults because it is closely associated with independent judgements and executive function of daily life.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test a new program developed to examine the PA and cognition of the older women.

Methods: This study employed a non-equivalent control pre-post design. The participants comprised 56 women aged 75 or older from the two local senior centers of D-city of South Korea who do not exercise on a regular base. The experimental group (n=28) received the one-half week cognition stimulating PA program for 12 weeks, while the control group received a basal activity consisting of simple stretching and health promotion lectures. The result of the pre-test data analysis verified the homogeneity of the experimental and control groups.

Results: The results of this study were as follows: Data indicated higher scores of cognitive function (<.001) and physical performance such as balance, walk speed, and muscle strength (<.001) for the experimental group compared to the control group. The results demonstrate that the integrated program is effective for older adults to increase the cognitive function and PA. Thus, it is warranted that a specific cognition stimulating strategy facilitates PA and cognitive function. Cognitive intervention is particularly valuable for older women because it is the essential element of their independent daily living.

Audience Take Away:

  • Cognition stimulation enhances not only the physical activity but also the cognitive function.  
  • The cognition and physical activity integration program is more accessible and feasible than the multi-modal interventions for cognition enhancement.
  • This study is the first trial to confirm the effect of a physical activity and cognition integration program.
  • This program is available to expand another study for young older adults (>65years) or middle aged adults.

Biography:

As a RN, MPH, PhD and nursing college professor, I have been teaching students of BSN, MSN, and PhD level and served as the dean of college of nursing, vice president of Korean Nurses’ Association, and president of Nursing Education Accreditation Board. My research interests are health promotion and life independency of older adults. My most recent research project started in 2015, which focused on the intervention for older-old women to enhance their cognitive function and Physical activity.

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