| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北護理健康大學 === 運動保健研究所 === 105 === Background: In Taiwan, the population aged over 65 accounted for 12.22%, accounted for 13.5% of Taipei. Aging on health, medical, care, economic and social development has resulted in a comprehensive impact and influence. The elderly body function decline, so that a limited amount of physical activity reduce their functional fitness and the daily activities of independent execution capabilities (ADL, IADL), not only affect the quality of life of the elderly relative increase in the risk of chronic disease and dysfunction. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of home-based exercise on functional fitness, physical activity and quality of life in the frail elderly. Method: The quasi-experimental design with pre and post tests was applied, and the purposive sampling was being used to select elderly who resided in Taipei City, aged 65 or above and met the criteria of Frailty Questionnaire as the subjects, who were divided into the experimental group (n=25) and the control group (n=25).The experimental group accepted 8 weeks of home-based exercise, and the control group accepted no intervention. Tests such as functional fitness, physical activity and quality of life were performed on both groups before and after the intervention. The functional fitness tests consisted of upper / lower body muscular strength, static balance and agility balance. The physical activity was measured using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). The MOS 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) was used to measure the quality of life. All data obtained were processed by IBM SPSS for Window 20.0 software suite and analyzed with Chi-square test, Fisher’s Exact Test, Mann-Whitney U test and Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE). The significant difference value was p<.05. Results and Discussion: Analysis done with Chi-square test, Fisher’s Exact Test and Mann-Whitney U test showed that the pre tests of both groups had homogeneity. This study used Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) for analysis and found that after the home-based exercise intervention was introduced, the lower body muscular strength, static balance and agility balance of the experimental group showed significant improvement (p<.05), whereas that of the control group showed no significant difference. As for the physical activity, the experimental group reached significant improvement (p<.05) after the home-based intervention was introduced, for which the control group showed no significant difference. Lastly, in term of the quality of life, the experimental group showed significant improvement (p<.05) after the home-based intervention was introduced, with the psychological scores being higher than the physiological ones, and the quality of life of the control group again showed no significant difference. Conclusion: The home-based exercise can effectively improve the functional fitness of the frail elderly and thereby increase their physical activities and improve their quality of life. The study suggests that the home-based exercise training as an important item for home care.
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