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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Physical activity and its correlates among urban primary care patients aged 55 years or older | | Author(s) | Daniel O Clark |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological sciences and social sciences, vol 54B, no 1, January 1999 |
| Pages | pp S41-S48 |
| Keywords | Exercise ; Inactivity ; Poor elderly ; Patients ; Urban areas ; Correlation ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Physical inactivity is a leading cause of death and disability, but very little is known about physical activity and its determinants among socially disadvantaged and medically vulnerable adults. The purpose of this study was to assess physical activity and its correlates, including measures of physical activity knowledge, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy, among socio-economically disadvantaged older adults. A stratified random sample of 1,088 patients aged 55 or older was selected from a US urban primary care centre serving a predominantly low-income population. 771 (71%) completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. A physical activity instrument, developed specifically for the population being studied, showed an average of 65 minutes of physical activity per week. Scores on a true-false knowledge quiz were no better than expected by chance, and over two-thirds reported symptom and perceived environmental barriers to physical activity. Lower self-efficacy and greater symptom and motivational barriers were found to be associated with less physical activity. Population-specific interventions may be required to improve rates of physical activity among socially disadvantaged and medically vulnerable adults. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990423011 A |
| Classmark | CEA: C5: F:W6: LF: RK: 49: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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