Interventions to promote or maintain physical activity during and after the transition to retirement: an evidence synthesis

Background: It has been argued that transition points in life, such as the approach towards and early years of retirement, present key opportunities for interventions to improve the health of the population. Interventions that may change or preserve activity levels around the time of retirement have the potential to provide benefits in terms of increased health and well-being for people in later life. Research has highlighted health inequalities in health statuses in the retired population and in response to interventions. Objective: We aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-synthesis of the types and effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among people around the time of retirement. We also aimed to identify factors that may underpin the effectiveness or acceptability of interventions, and how issues of health inequalities may be addressed. Data sources: The following electronic databases were searched: (1) MEDLINE; (2) Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts; (3) The Cochrane Library (including The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Health Technology Assessment Database); (4) Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; (5) Science Citation Index; (6) Social Science Citation Index; (7) PsycINFO; (8) Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre; (9) SPORTDiscus; (10) Social Policy and Practice; (11) Health Management Information Consortium; and (12) Sociological Abstracts. We also searched for grey literature, checked reference lists of included papers and screened other reviews. Review methods: A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative literature was carried out between February 2014 and April 2015. The searches aimed to identify, first, evidence of effectiveness of interventions for older adults at the point of transition to retirement and, second, data relating to perceptions of barriers and facilitators to intervention effectiveness. A meta-synthesis of the two types of evidence was also carried out to provide further interpretation of the review findings. Results: A systematic search of the literature identified a large number of potentially relevant studies. Of these, 103 studies examining the effectiveness of interventions and 55 qualitative papers met the criteria for inclusion. A review of the effectiveness literature indicated a dearth of studies that investigate interventions that specifically examine the transition to retirement. More general studies in older adults indicated that a range of interventions might be effective for people around retirement age. The qualitative literature indicated the importance of considering the appeal and enjoyment, and social aspects, of interventions. Although there were a range of different measures in use, many were self-reported and few studies included an evaluation of sedentary time. A meta-synthesis across the data types indicated that elements reported as significant by participants did not always feature in the interventions. Limitations: Owing to the lack of evidence relating to the retirement transition, we examined the literature relating to older adults. The applicability of these data to people around retirement age may need consideration. Conclusions: Although the retirement transition is considered a significant point of life change, only a small volume of literature has reported interventions specifically in this period. The included literature suggests that interventions should take account of views and preferences of the target population and evaluate effectiveness by measuring meaningful outcomes and using a control group design. Study registration: This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42014007446. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme