Relationships Between Exercise and Emotion Regulation on Physical Activity in Frail Older Adults

April 30, 2018 updated by: Northeastern University

Does Exercise-induced Improvements in Emotion Regulation Enhance Daily Physical Activity and Well-being in Frail Sedentary Older Adults?

Frailty in older adults is a consequence of physical inactivity, which leads to poor physical function, disability and poor health outcomes. Nearly 60% of older adults report inactivity. Emotion regulation strategies have affective, cognitive and social consequences. Positive emotions are significantly associated with a higher ability to perform activities of daily living. There is a gap in the understanding of how exercise influences the selection of emotion regulation strategies (avoidant vs. adaptive) in frail older adults. The investigators propose to examine the interactions between regular exercise, selection of emotional regulation strategies, and daily physical activity in frail sedentary older adults.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

  1. Determine the choice of emotion regulation strategies used by frail sedentary older adults (60+ years; n=24). Frailty will be defined as a gait speed <0.8 m/sec.

    Hypothesis: Frail sedentary older adults will choose avoidant emotion regulation strategies.

  2. Examine whether a peer-led, community-based, group-exercise program lasting 12-weeks improves the selection of emotion regulation strategies in frail sedentary older adults as compared to those receiving support services (12/group).

    Hypothesis: Exercise will result in higher use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies than support services.

  3. Examine if improved selection of emotional regulation strategies with exercise translates into increased daily physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior by frail older adults as compared to those receiving support services.

    Hypothesis: Exercise will significantly increase daily physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior than support services.

  4. Determine if improvements in emotional regulation strategy selection and daily physical activity levels positively influence health and well-being (i.e. health status, physical function, mood, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sense of loneliness and isolation).

Hypothesis: Exercise-induced improvements in emotion regulation and increased daily physical activity will be associated with improved overall health and well-being as compared to support services.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
        • Northeastern University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

60 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Community-dwelling older adults 60+ years of age
  • Men and women
  • Frail older adults with impaired mobility (gait speed < 0.8 m/sec)
  • Sedentary older adults

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to give consent
  • Unable to exercise
  • Unable to travel to the community site
  • Unstable chronic conditions

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Group exercise
Group exercise training at a community site. Exercises included supervised upper and lower-body strength and balance exercises twice per week. Hand-made, weighted bars were used for resistance props and balance. The exercises included: chair squats; standing single leg hip abduction; hip extension; balance heal-to-toe walking; seated hip adduction and knee extension; wall push-ups; bent-over rows; shoulder press; elbow flexion and extension).
Behavioral: Group exercise
Group exercise based on the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines.
No Intervention: Attention-Control group
Attendance to community site usual activities offered to older adults. Participants in this group were offered the exercise routine after completing the 12-week study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Seven-day free living physical activity
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Number of steps per day were objectively measured with an activity monitor worn for a seven-day period
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Northeastern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Carmen Castaneda-Sceppa, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 7, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

May 2, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 2, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2018

Last Verified

April 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • G00004606

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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