The effect of multiple nursing interventions on improving physical activity and HEALTH in the elderly: A randomized controlled trial

The research was conducted with a pre-test-post-test parallel group randomized control in order to determine the effects of education, mobile application (Google Fit) use, group walk and telephone reminder attempts on health promotion and physical activity through home visits created by using Pender's Health Promotion Model for the elderly. The study group included elderly people aged between 60 and 70 who were independent in their daily living activities, had no memory problems and were able to use smart phones. Randomization was carried out with 66 elderly individuals, 33 of whom were in the experimental group and 33 were in the control group, which was calculated with 95% power. Data were collected using the Descriptive Characteristics Form, the Geriatric Health Promotion Scale, and the Elderly Physical Fitness and Exercise Activity Scale at the beginning, 1 month after the interventions, and at the end of the 6th month. Multiple nursing interventions consisting of education, mobile application (Google Fit) use, group walk to encourage physical activity, and phone reminder messages were applied through home visits created by the researcher using Pender's Health Promotion Model. The control group was expected to continue their routine activities for 6 months and the intervention was not applied. Pre-tests were collected by the researcher through a face-to-face interview in an elderly social facility. Intermediate and post-test measurements were obtained by a health-informed interviewer appointed from an independent consultancy company that was not involved in the study. Blinding was applied in terms of data collector, statistician and reporting. In the analysis of the data, t test for independent groups, Friedman test, one-way analysis of variance were used. Ethics committee, institution, permission to use the scale and written consent of the participants were obtained before the research. As a result of the findings, it was shown that multiple nursing interventions in the elderly could improve healthy lifestyle habits in the 1st month. However, it was found that it did not improve the results of the Geriatric Health Promotion Scale, nutrition, exercise, social support, oral hygiene, health responsibility, and the Elderly Physical Fitness and Exercise Activity Scale. It can be recommended to increase awareness of health promotion in the elderly in preventive health services and to plan interventions with reminders and repetitions of healthy lifestyle behaviors that include multidisciplinary approaches to improve health in elderly follow-ups. Keywords: physical activity, nursing, health promotion, mobile application, elderly