Physical and psychological condition of senior people in a residential care facility. The effects of an aerobic training

Abstract

The present study is aimed at investigating the changes between pre-test and post-test, after having introduced an aerobic programme of physical activity (one session, each of 45’ per week for 15 weeks, over a span of roughly four months, delivered by specially trained instructor), in the psychological situation (perception of general health, feelings of geriatric depression) and physical condition (activities of daily living, physical performance in terms of balance and gait, weight, and body mass index–BMI) of a group of senior citizens slightly compromised at Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE: median 23) and living in a residential care facility in northern Italy. The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the Italian short version of Barthel's Index of Activities of Daily Living (BADL), the Tinetti Assessment Tool were administered to 18 old men and women (median age 85.50 years). The findings (we used non- parametric statistical techniques) showed that: 1) general health perception, feelings of depression, and activities of daily were stable; 2) general physical performance, and particularly the balance, increased between pre-test and post-test, while weight, BMI and waist circumference decreased. These results underline the importance, especially in the case of women, of participating at an aerobic training delivered by experienced instructors for the physical condition of senior citizens, also when they are slightly cognitively compromised.