Construction of Group Exercise Sessions in Geriatric Inpatient Rehabilitation

Abstract

There is little knowledge about the ways geriatric physiotherapy is being carried out in practice and about the situational construction of formal policies for promoting physical activity. This article examines how professional physiotherapists and frail community-dwelling older adults as their clients use talk and action to construct a group exercise session in an inpatient rehabilitation setting in Finland. The analysis of 7 group exercise sessions with a total of 52 clients and 9 professional physiotherapists revealed 3 different practitioner approaches, which served different functions in older adults' empowerment and lifestyle activity change. The highly structured approach favored taciturn physical performances completed independently and successfully by frail older adults. The guided exercise approach with individualized guidance encouraged occasional coconstruction of shared understanding of learning the exercises. The circuit training approach facilitated occasional self-regulation by the clients. The results of this study indicate that a combination of different approaches is required to address the multifaceted needs of heterogeneous frail older adults.

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“…It is linked to prevention of chronic diseases (Schutzer & Graves, 2004;Kruk, 2007;Nigg et al, 2009), falls (Heesch et al, 2008), and disability (Wallin et al, 2008) in older age. Furthermore, it is advocated for preventing and optimally managing cardiovascular risk factors and reduction of heart-related death (Akbartabartoori et al, 2005;Sofi et al, 2008).…”

Educational programmes for frail older people, their families, carers and healthcare professionals

“…In essence, empowerment is the ability that gives people mastery over their affairs. There is considerable overlap between the studies as regards focusing on empowerment and its elements such as shared decision making [ 27 , 30 ], care goals setting [ 31 , 32 ], self-monitoring [ 31 ] and the underlying importance of health literacy [ 34 ]. Jadczak et al.…”

“…This included stimulating, promoting or improving a number of attributes, i.e. motivation [ 28 , 33 ], problem-solving ability [ 25 ], autonomy and independence [ 28 , 31 , 35 ], self-efficacy [ 27 , 33 ], and the capacity to self-care [ 29 , 35 ]. There was clear justification for supporting the development of self-care pathways in the prevention and management of frailty.…”

Group-based Aerobic Interval Training in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure: Norwegian Ullevaal Model

“…The randomized controlled trial is considered the gold standard design when assessing the effect of treatments (Paper II, III, IV) 73 The literature has described the advantage of using a group-based exercise training program [78][79][80] . The individuals experience and sense of belonging, feeling supported and learning from each other are beneficial.…”

“…The individuals experience and sense of belonging, feeling supported and learning from each other are beneficial. All these factors seem to be of importance regarding enhance commitment 79 . Positive feedback, perception of success, and expectation of success are important for compliance and adherence to an exercise training program 61 .…”