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The relationship between self-esteem and physical condition as measured by hand grip and leg press strength in 65 subjects from two retirement homes was examined in a pre-/post-test design. The originally selected subjects ranged from 60-99 years of age (10 males, 55 females). At the conclusion of the study, 54 subjects remained (5 males, 49 females). The functional description of the subjects was "frail elderly." Although most were mobile and alert, many had some physical or mental disability that prevented them from living independently. The subjects were randomly assigned to three groups: experimental (exercise) and two control groups. There was, however, cross contamination between groups and marked attrition in the experimental group. The study was then redesigned as descriptive and examined twenty hypotheses. No significant relationship was found between physical condition and self-esteem. However, significant negative relationships were found between age and physical condition and hours of rest and physical condition. Significant positive relationships were found between length of stay in the retirement home and self-esteem, hours of activity and leg press strength, and level of control in selection of retirement home and self-esteem. Most elderly subjects did not accept exercise as necessary. Rather, they believed that as the individual ages, the body's need for exercise decreases. The implications are that health education programs for the elderly should be directed toward the need for physical exercise to maintain strength. Strength is necessary for activities of daily living. The ability to maintain activities of daily living will help to improve and maintain the quality of life for the older citizen.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the mediating effect of two types of goal setting conditions (self-set and assigned set goals) on exercise intensity, exercise efficacy and perceived physical ability of efficacious older adults participating in a fitness program. In addition, this study examined the extent to which the four sources of self-efficacy influenced walking self-efficacy and perceived physical ability. Sixteen older adults, who were participating in a fitness program, were randomly assigned to either the self-set or assigned set goal condition. The self-set group selected an exercise intensity (i.e., target heart rate range) each week prior to the walking bout, while the assigned set group were designated an exercise intensity (i.e., target heart rate range) each week before their walking session. The same walking duration was implemented for both goal groups throughout the eight-week goal-setting program. Heart rate monitors were used to collect information on exercise intensity. In week one, walking self-efficacy (WSE), exercise intensity and perceived physical ability (PPA) were collected. For weeks two through seven WSE, exercise intensity, goal setting post-questionnaire (only for the assigned group) were collected. In week eight, WSE, PPA, exercise intensity, and sources of self-efficacy were collected. The results revealed that goal condition had no significant effect on exercise intensity, perceived physical ability, and walking self-efficacy. However, this study assisted participants in becoming more aware of their heart rate (exercise intensity) by observing their heart rate monitors. / School of Physical Education

by Shek Chung Kwong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-98). / Text in English; abstracts in English and Chinese; questionnaire in Chinese. / by Shek Chung Kwong. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vi / LISTS OF TABLES --- p.vii / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / METHODOLOGY / Participants --- p.27 / Design of Training Protocol --- p.29 / Testing Methods --- p.33 / RESULTS --- p.42 / DISCUSSION --- p.56 / CONCLUSIONS --- p.72 / TABLES --- p.74 / APPENDICES --- p.85 / REFERENCES --- p.90

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published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

This study employed the grounded theory methodology suggested by Strauss and Corbin (1990) to analyze and explore the meaning of and motivation for mall walking among a group of older, rural, independently living adults. Interviews were conducted with 14 respondents aged 62-81 and participant observation was conducted at a rural mall. Mall walking was initially motivated by three conditions: (a) expert-directed advice, (b) self-determined goals, and (c) the invitation of significant others. Four major factors encouraged continued participation in mall walking: (a) the need to create work roles after retirement, (b) fear due to perceived vulnerability in the community, (c) social supports from family and peers, and (d) a sense of membership in a community of older adults that was generally time and place specific. Members of this mall community shared activities, routines, rituals, beliefs, and a sense of belonging. Despite medical disorders, all of the respondents said their health was good. After initially responding to medical advice to walk, walkers paid little or no attention to medical problems. These older adults did not continue to mall walk in response to expert medical direction. This finding suggests that health promoting activities should not rely on the continuing influence of medical advice to encourage adherence or ongoing participation in health promoting activities, and should instead attend to the social constructs of health and wellness. An important implication for future research is the finding that mall walking was a quasi-work activity, not exercise. Walkers created "work" routines and roles that replaced those lost upon retirement. The equation of mall walking with work has implications for both the design and the implementation of health promoting activities for older adults. / Ph. D.

Psychological stress is common and contributes to many physical and mental health problems. Its effects are mediated by a complex neurobiological system centering in the brain with effectors including autonomic nervous system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, inflammatory system, and gene expression. A stressor pushes the human physiological system away from its baseline state towards a lower utility state. The physiological system may return towards the original state but may be shifted to a lower utility state. While some physiological changes induced by stressors may benefit health, chronic stressors usually have negative effects on health. In contrast to this stressor effect is the system's resilience which influences its ability to return to the high utility attractor basin following a perturbation by increasing the likelihood and/or speed of returning to the baseline state following a stressor. Age-related cognitive decline is a major public health issue with few preventative options. Stress contributes to this cognitive decline, and mindfulness meditation (MM) is a behavioral intervention that reduces stress and stress reactivity in many health conditions. A randomized clinical trial was performed to determine if MM in older adults would improve measures of cognitive function, as well as psychology and physiology, and to determine what factors might predict who would improve. 134 at least mildly stressed 50-85 year olds were randomized to a MM intervention or a wait-list control. Outcome measures included a broad cognitive function battery with emphasis on attention and executive function, self-rated psychological measures of affect and stress, and physiological measures of stress. Self-rated measures related to negative affect and stress were all significantly improved as a result of the MM intervention compared to wait-list control. There were no changes in cognition, salivary cortisol, and heart rate variability. Potential explanations for the discrepancy between the beneficial mental health outcomes and lack of impact on cognitive and physiological outcomes are discussed. To determine which factors predict MM responsiveness, a responder was defined by determining if there was a minimum clinically important improvement in mental health. Predictors included demographic information and selected self-rated baseline measures related to stress and affect. Classification was performed using decision tree analysis. There were 61 responders and 60 non-responders. Univariate statistical analysis of the baseline measures demonstrated significant differences between the responder and non-responders in several self-rated mental health measures. However, decision tree was unable to achieve a reliable classification rate better than 65%. A number of future research directions were suggested by this study, including to optimize the MM intervention itself, to better select participants who would benefit from MM, and to improve the outcome measures perhaps by focusing on decreased reactivity to stressful events. Finally, a less well-defined but always present future research direction is the development of better models and better quantitative analysis approaches to the multivariate but dynamically limited human empirical data that can be practically collected.