Effects of Health Promotion Program on Older Women's Healthy Lifestyles

Thursday, April 25, 2013
Exhibit Hall Poster Area 2 (Convention Center)
Eun-Ju Park1, Soojin Yoo2, Dae-Kyung Kim3 and Jung-il Oh2, (1)Beakseok University, Cheon An, South Korea, (2)University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX, (3)Korea National Sport University, Daejeon, South Korea

Background/Purpose

The purpose of this study aimed to improve daily activities, to increase the participation rate, and help to provide related organizations with useful information on creation of the specific program for the elderly women.

Method A 12-week health promotion program was conducted for 28 volunteers (average 70.1-year old) in Cheon-An, South Korea. The Pre-and Post- tests were conducted including questionnaires and fitness tests. The manual books of the Health Promotion Institute of the U.S National Council on the Aging (NCOA) modified and applied for health promotion program.

Analysis/Results Analysis of frequency and cross tabs, using the SPSS(Ver. 11.0.) used to investigate the demo-socio, health and health type characteristics of study subjects. Also, a paired t-test was conducted to evaluate the differences in the sub-variables of their health and lifestyles after 12 weeks program. The results showed significant changes of physical strength (grip strength; p <.001, flexibility; p < .01 and balance; p <.05) and waist to hip ratio (p <.001). There were significant improvements in overall daily activities including wearing clothes (p <.05), eating meals (p <.05) and using public transportation (p <.01) in the items of daily life. In motor ability, there were significant improvements in a variety of physical activities (carrying heavy things, dodging, standing on one foot, staying in rhythm and going up/down the stairs). Also, there were statistically significant changes in their viewpoints on the meaning of life, recognition of eating habits, and socio-psychological relationships, as well as medical claims.

Conclusions In conclusion, health professionals should be assigned to the health centers for the elderly to provide an efficient exercise methods. Also, it is necessary to provide legal and institutional alternatives places in public for easy access.