Effect of Two month Intervention to Improve Physical Activity of Evacuees in Temporary Housing after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Pilot Study

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to clarify effects of intervention to improve the physical activity of elderly evacuees in temporary housing after The Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011.Methods: A total of 15 subjects (5 men and 10 women) underwent a two-month intervention program, which consisted of multiple techniques including education, practice, and feedback, all of which were aimed to increase patients' physical activity levels. Changes in physical activity levels were gauged according to the number of walking steps recorded with a triaxial accelerometer, or pedometer. Age, gender, and stage of self-efficacy were analyzed to determine which characteristics made it more likely for respondents to add more than 10% to their number of steps in the first 2 weeks and in the last 2 weeks of the study.Results: Three out of fifteen subjects (20.0%) increased their number of steps by more than 10% in postintervention. Males, and those who had smaller levels of physical activity pre-intervention were more likely to improve their number of steps (p<0.05). Conclusion:Multiple-strategy intervention for elderly evacuees in temporary housing is effective at improving the level of physical activity for males and individuals with low initial levels of physical activity.