Habit Formation in Older Adults: Feasibility Study

University of North Carolina System

Status

Completed

Conditions

Older Adults

Treatments

Behavioral: Everyday Meaningful Activities (EMA) intervention

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04037033

UMCIRB 19-001365

Details and patient eligibility

About

Sedentary behavior, which is characterized by too much sitting, is an epidemic in the United States. It is estimated that 4 out of every 10 Americans never engage in physical activity, and approximately 60% of an adult's non-sleeping hours are spent in sedentary behaviors. This equates to approximately 9-10 hours per day. As sedentary behavior increases, so do diagnoses of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease. Older adults are particularly at risk for sedentary behavior and the related chronic illnesses.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing the EMA intervention with medically stable older adults who are living in the community.

The secondary aims of this study are to investigate the effectiveness of the Everyday Meaningful Activities (EMA) Intervention in forming active lifestyle behavior habits and in decreasing an individual's perceived sedentary time.

This prospective study will examine the ability of medically stable older adults to decrease sedentary behavior by creating new, active lifestyle behavior habits using the Everyday Meaningful Activities intervention. The EMA Intervention is based in Habit Formation Theory. It is an individualized, client-centered intervention that aims to increase adherence to active lifestyle behaviors in older adults' lives. Participants will engage in the EMA Intervention that is designed to create new active lifestyle behavior habits by attaching these new active lifestyle behaviors to currently existing daily routines.

During six intervention sessions over six weeks, participants will select two new active lifestyle behaviors to make habitual and will create action plans to create the habits. The first behavior will be implemented at the first intervention session, and the second behavior will be implemented at the fourth session. The participants will be assessed three times over their 8 to 10-week study participation. Participants should (1) be 65 years of age and older, (2) have intact cognition, (3) have no self-reported physical activity limitations, (4) have a sedentary lifestyle, and (5) have no acute illnesses or unstable medical conditions.

The results of this study may provide evidence for the occupational therapy intervention to decrease sedentary behavior in older adults in the community. The results may also broaden the scope of occupational therapy practice through demonstrating the potential for occupational therapy services in preventive health care.

Enrollment

12 patients

Sex

All

Ages

65+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

age 65 or older,
intact cognition as confirmed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment blind version
no physical activity restrictions that can be self-reported
sedentary lifestyle as confirmed by the Rapid Assessment Disuse Index
live within 20 miles of the College of Allied Health Sciences at ECU
have access to the internet and/or a telephone for remote intervention sessions

Exclusion criteria