Qualitative Analysis of Different Educational Physical Activity Interventions and Policies for Older Asian Americans in the United States

Physical activity (PA) provides numerous positive health benefits and minimizes chronic diseases and mental health issues, especially in older adults. The national survey data indicated that only 27.3% to 44.3% of older adults meet the recommended physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes/ week. There are limited data on PA behavior among older AA adults as very few to no local/national surveys are targeted for older AA and their marginalized subgroups. This qualitative analysis aimed to understand and review the effectiveness of physical activity interventions targeted for and done among older Asian American adults. The study included a comprehensive review based on publications from the last five years (2016 to 2021) which included literature on all physical activity interventions with older AA adults. Data were abstracted for study designs, associated conditions, subgroups focused, theoretical frameworks, sample sizes, intervention strategies, and physical activity outcomes. A total of nine intervention studies met the inclusion criteria based on age, ethnicity and racial group, year of publication, United States-based, and English-only publication. Four used randomized controlled designs, three used pre-test post-test designs, one used cross-sectional survey, and one used a single group repeated measures design. The studies included in this paper did not use behavioral theories and utilized small sample sizes. It is crucial to develop long-term effective interventions that will increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behaviors in older AA. To achieve such goals, there needs to be more research addressing and utilizing theory-based physical activity promotion intervention with larger sample sizes.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/durep_podium/1007/thumbnail.jp