Encouraging older adults to become more active and maintain that activity is critical to the promotion of their health and well-being, social networks and independence. Leadership behaviour and quality of instruction is important in influencing engagement of older adults in exercise classes. Instructors' attitudes could influence older adults' uptake and adherence to classes, but little is known about the relationship between attitudes and characteristics of instructors and their delivery in relation to uptake and adherence of older adults to exercise classes. Methods: Underpinned by the Theory of Planned Behaviour and using a mixed methods approach this thesis uses three studies to:1) Survey 731 United Kingdom exercise instructors with Level 3 older adults exercise qualification to investigate instructors' characteristics and attitudes towards older-adults' participation in exercise. 2) Interview 19 instructors to further explore instructors' attitudes, experiences and beliefs in relation to their exercise classes for older adults and how their attitudes, experiences and beliefs are influenced by their training and characteristics.3) Follow up a cohort of 16 instructors and 193 of their class participants over 6 months to explore what characteristics of exercise instructors, the group and class participants influence adherence and also whether instructors influence uptake and adherence to home exercise. Results and Conclusion: The first study establishes that there is a relationship between instructors' training, experience, characteristics and their attitudes. The second study supports these findings and demonstrates how instructors' think that these factors and others not only influence how they deliver and promote their classes but also influence older adults' uptake and adherence to exercise classes. The final study enables us to look at the relationship between instructor variables and the participant within the exercise class setting. Class participants' mental well-being, education and housing were key factors related to their attendance. Having attended the class for more than six months at baseline was an important factor related to adherence. Individual factors such as participants' attitudes, beliefs about group cohesion and instructor variables such as personality traits and experience emerged in the final models both in relation to participant attendance and adherence. There are a series of complex interactions between the instructor, participant, the group and others which influences beliefs and attitudes. It is clear that the instructor can influence participants and they have an important role to play in creating an atmosphere and environment of which participants want to be a part of.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:39:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Odila Weigand.pdf: 1845061 bytes, checksum: ec8f3a6a9ad23bd2662db8fa5b42b0e2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-19 / The purpose of this study was to deepen and update the concept of grounding in Bioenergetic Analysis. This approach combines fundamental principles of psychoanalysis with direct work on the organism, seen from the viewpoint of its emotional, energetic and relational development. Both paradigms of psychoanalysis, pulsion and object-relations, were studied within the context of the historical development of Bioenergetics Analysis, in terms of their influence on the theory as well as on the practice. Brazilian Bioenergetic Analysis therapists have been building their own identity over the last 25 years. This should not be seen as a split from Alexander Lowen's ideas, as it actually means a differentiation born out of those therapists maturity. The integration of the object-relations paradigm, indicates the pathway for a model of psychotherapy which associates the construction of functional and integrative internal organizations with the phase, in psychotherapy, of dismantling repressive and defensive structures. In this study, a group of third-age women participated in Bioenergetics exercise classes for a period of four months. This research may be considered a social project with the objective of demonstrating an application of Bioenergetic Analysis that would preserve its healing potential, at the same time respecting the principles of intersubjectivity, of social inclusion, citizenship and ethics, and also that would be compatible with Brazilian social reality. The work with the group was conducted intending to create resources that might make possible for chronic primary defenses gradually to become unnecessary. Body work and level of excitation were adequated to the developmental level and physical possibilities of the participants. The changes observed in the group were verified by the subjective observation of the coordinators, as well as by verbal manifestations of participants, and by the analysis of the HTP test. In short, those verified changes were: improvement in vitality and flexibility, self-perception, social contact, increased maturity and ego strength, along with possible emergence of unconscious pulsional and traumatic contents. / O objetivo deste trabalho foi aprofundar e atualizar o conceito do grounding na Análise Bioenergética. Esta abordagem combina os princípios fundamentais da psicanálise com o trabalho direto no organismo visto do ponto de vista do seu desenvolvimento energético, emocional e relacional. Os dois paradigmas da psicanálise, pulsional e objetal, foram discutidos no contexto da evolução histórica da Análise Bioenergética, em termos de suas influências na teoria e na prática. Os terapeutas brasileiros vêm criando uma identidade própria ao longo dos últimos 25 anos. Não se trata de uma cisão em relação às idéias de Alexander Lowen, mas de uma diferenciação resultante do amadurecimento dos mesmos. A introdução do paradigma objetal indica o caminho para um modelo de psicoterapia no qual se agregam a construção de organizações internas funcionais e integradoras e a fase de desmonte das estruturas repressivas e defensivas. Neste estudo, mulheres da terceira idade participaram de um grupo de exercícios de Análise Bioenergética por um período de quatro meses. A pesquisa pode ser considerada um projeto social, com o objetivo de demonstrar uma aplicação da Análise Bioenergética que preservasse seu potencial curativo, ao mesmo tempo respeitando princípios de intersubjetividade, inclusão social, cidadania e ética, e também fosse compatível com a realidade social brasileira. O trabalho com este grupo foi conduzido com a intenção de criar recursos para que as defesas primitivas crônicas pudessem tornar-se gradualmente desnecessárias. Trabalhou-se corporalmente com níveis de excitação e técnicas adequadas ao estágio de desenvolvimento e capacidade física das participantes. As mudanças ocorridas no grupo foram constatadas por observação subjetiva das coordenadoras, por manifestações verbalizadas pelas participantes e pela análise do teste HTP. Em síntese caracterizam-se essas mudanças como: melhora na vitalidade e flexibilidade, na auto-percepção, no contato social, maior maturidade, fortalecimento do ego e possibilidade de emergência de conteúdos pulsionais e traumáticos inconscientes.