Physical activity in an elderly population: the perception of the long-term care facility managers

OBJECTIVE: To verify the perception of the long-term care facility managers of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, regarding the elderly residents' physical activity and its importance. METHODS: The data collection was made through a questionnaire elaborated for this study and answered by 44 institutions coordinators. For analyzing the results it was used descriptive statistics and association among variables using the chi-square test with p < 0.05. RESULTS: The average age of the coordinators is 43.37 years. Regarding the education level: 4 have completed middle school (9%), 21 have completed high school (47.8%) and 19 have majored in some different areas (43.2%). The physical activity is stimulated in 41 of the institutions (93.2%) and the ones responsible for the activities orientation are physical educators - 14(25.5%); physical therapists - 29(52.7%) and 12 other area professionals. It was observed that 43(97.7%) of the coordinators consider that these activities must be oriented by Physical Educators. All of them consider that physical activity is very important for the elderly: 25(56.8%) cited aerobics activity, 9(20.5%) - flexibility - 6(13.6%) strength and 4(9.1%) chose balance. The reasons for the activity importance are the physical health improvement for 31 of the applicants (47%), social health for 9 of them (3.6%), mental health for 13(19.7%) and life quality for 13(19.7%). CONCLUSIONS: The data collected suggest that the physical activity is generally stimulated in the long-term institutions. However, it is possibly not being made in its totality, demanding, therefore, for better programs with better technical supervision.