Health and wellbeing among older adults during physical activity study: summary of main findings

The current research used both interview and questionnaire data from three groups of older adults aged over 65 years. In total, 112 participants took part in this study, comprising of 64 women and 48 men. Participants were classified into three age groups of 50-64 years (48 participants), 65-74 years (50 participants), and over 75 years (14 participants). Additionally, participants belonged to one of three groups: (1) post-cardiac rehabilitation walking group (PCR), (2) recreational walking group, or (3) a choir group. The first group, the PCR exercise group, had recent experience of local cardiac rehabilitation programmes in North East Lincolnshire. The second group was recruited from a scheme in which PA is a central theme; North East Lincolnshire’s ‘Walkwell’ walking project. The third group included participants in a choir and their partners who considered themselves healthy and had little or no first-hand experiences of PCRs. This third group of participants was used as a comparator (the choir group). Both groups contained of men and women. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences Ethics Committee at the University of Lincoln in May 2012. Data were collected in two stages; the administration of Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB; 10) and individual interviews. In total, 112 respondents completed the questionnaire (31 PCR participants, 23 participants from the choir and 62 from Walkwell). Second, 20 individual interviews were completed with members of the project groups (10 from the PCR, 6 from the choir and 4 recreational walkers). This report summarises the key findings from both sets of data