| Summary: | 碩士 === 大葉大學 === 健康產業管理碩士在職學位學程 === 105 === Background and Purposes: Aging physically can decrease the functional fitness of older adults and deteriorate their daily life well-being. The majority of researchers have found that multidimensional and interesting exercise programs can increase functional fitness and ameliorate age-related problems, such as sleep disorders and depression. The purpose of this study was to develop a “Up and Down Aerobic Exercise” program and to exam its effects on functional fitness, quality of sleep, and depression symptoms of older adults. Methods: Quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Convenient sampling was utilized to recruit the participants, aged 65 and older in nine community activities centers in the Changhua area. The total samples (N =160) consisted of an experimental group (n = 80) and a control group (n = 80). The participants in the experimental group were asked to participate in the “Up and Down Aerobic Exercise” program once a week, 50 minutes each time, lasting for 10 weeks. The researcher used the guide of the functional fitness test, “Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index”, and “Taiwan Geriatric Depression Scale” to collect the data. Results: The participants in this study included 106 females and 54 males; their mean age was 76.3 (± 5.3). Compared to the baseline data, the functional fitness indicators, such as muscular strength of lower extremities (p = .04), flexibility of upper extremities (p = .007) and lower extremities (p =.000), aerobic endurance (p =.000), and balance (standing when eyes were closed) (p =.008),and mean total scores of depression symptoms (p=.033), were statistically significant in the experimental group (p<.05). In addition, the use of sleep medications were very statistically significant (p =.000) in that group. At the endpoint, there were significant differences in flexibility of lower extremities (p = .039), aerobic endurance (p =.000), dynamic agility (p = .025), balance (standing when eyes were open) (p =.008), daytime dysfunction (p =.045), and depression-related behavioral performance (p =.004) between the experimental group and the reference group. Conclusion: The 10 week “Up and Down Aerobic Exercise” program can benefit the functional fitness and depression-related behavioral performance of the community dwelling elderly, but it is not helpful in increasing their quality of sleep and alleviating their depression symptoms. When nurses develop an exercise program for community dwelling elderly, they should consider the factors that may influence the success of the program, extend exercise duration time, and increase exercise intensity. Future research should focus on exploring the association between exercise intensity, functional fitness, quality of sleep, and depression symptoms.
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