Why older adults spend time sedentary and break their sedentary behaviour: a mixed methods approach using life-logging equipment

• Main Author: Manon L Dontje
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-10-01
• Series: Frontiers in Public Health
• Subjects: accelerometer; older adults; mixed methods research; Qualitative interview; Life-logging; Sedentary behaviour; Time-lapse camera; acceleromter
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.FPUBH.2016.01.00040/full

Background Older adults spend a large part of the day being sedentary, but several national and international health guidelines explicitly recommend that older adults should reduce their sedentary time and break prolonged periods of sitting to promote healthy ageing and well-being. In order to refine the guidelines and develop effective interventions, it is crucial to identify when, why and how older adults are most likely to be able to change their sitting habits. Aim The aim of this study was to utilise life-logging equipment (objective activity monitor and camera) to understand reasons for older people to remain sedentary and to break periods of prolonged sitting. Methods In this mixed-methods study, 30 older adults (mean (±SD) age 74.0±5.3 years) were asked to recollect their believed reasons for (breaking) sedentary behaviour. In addition, they were presented with a personal storyboard with objective records (1 day activity monitor [activPAL] and time-lapse camera images [ViconRevue]) of their daily behaviour and asked, during a semi-structured interview, to give their individual interpretation of their objectively measured sedentary behaviour and explain their actual reasons for (breaking) sedentary behaviour. The interview transcriptions were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results The most frequent reasons that people believed kept them sedentary were television/radio (48.3%), fatigue (34.5%) and health status (31.0%). The factors most often mentioned as actual reasons were eating/drinking (96.6%), television/radio (89.7%) and reading/crosswords (75.9%). Domestic chores (55.2%), walking (37.9%) and socialising (20.7%) were most often mentioned as reasons that people believed made them break their sedentary behaviour. The factors that were most often mentioned as actual reasons were domestic chores (86.2%), food/tea preparation (82.8%), and performing simple tasks (75.9%). Conclusions It can be concluded that a mixed methods approach, by combining objective data of an activity monitor with contextual information from time-lapse photos and subjective information from people regarding their own behaviour, is an useful method to provide indepth information about (breaking) sedentary behaviour in older adults. The results of this study showed that there is a difference in what older adults believe that are reasons for them to remain sedentary or break their sedentary time and what their actual reasons are. A personal story board based on objective measurements of sedentary behaviour can be a useful method to raise awareness and find individual and tailored ways to reduce sedentary behaviour and to increase the number of breaks in sedentary behaviour without much interference in daily routine.