The Effectiveness of Exercise Based – Health Promotion Program for Older Adults: Functional Fitness & Cognitive Function

• Main Authors: LIN, CHIH-YUAN, 林志遠
• Other Authors: LAN, SHOU-JEN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y9a654

博士 === 亞洲大學 === 健康產業管理學系健康管理組 === 106 === Due to the structural change in global population, preventing the elderly from disability and dementia has attracted more attention worldwide. As the empirical research increases, the role of exercise to prevent the elderly from disability and dementia is getting more important. The purpose of this research is to design and organize exercise program which are suitable for the elderly and evaluate the benefits of functional fitness and cognitive function. This research conducted two studies. In Study One, the experimental group used the designated Chinese traditional exercise as their exercise program and the other group used the Western-style multi-component exercise program. How the Chinese traditional exercise benefited the elderly’s functional body fitness was verified. Tests of functional fitness were measured before and after the intervention of the exercise program for both groups. This study showed the Western-style multi-component exercise program had significant improvements on all tests of functional fitness after the intervention. The Chinese traditional exercise program had significant improvements (p＜.05) on tests of functional fitness such as Chair stands, biceps curls, sit & reach, back scratch, 8-ft up & go, and 6-min walks after the intervention. However, the Chinese traditional exercise program did not have significant difference on the back scratch test which represented the flexibility of the upper body. In Study Two, we assessed the associations of Coordinated Exercise which was created and designated for the elderly by this study with the improvement of cognitive functions on Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA) among the elderly in the community. This study found after the 12-week intervention of coordination Exercises, although the scores of MoCA had progress on all cognitive functional terms in experimental group , but only had significant difference (p＜.05) on terms of Attention and Orientation. In contrast, the control group had no significant difference at all. Comparing the measurements before and after the exercise intervention for both groups, the experimental group had statistic significant difference on terms of Naming, Language and Abstraction. In conclusion, both the Western-style multi-component exercise and Chinese traditional exercise play important roles to prevent and delay the disability and dementia of the elderly. No matter the Western-style exercise or the Chinese traditional exercise are both effective if the exercise program are efficiently designed and organized. To increase the diversity of exercise program for the elderly, designated Coordination Exercises is considered as one of the courses to prevent dementia.