Engaging relatives in nursing home residents’ well-being: exploring interest in a dyad physical activity program

Older people often have reduced levels of physical activity, especially in nursing home settings.

The primary aim of this study was to assess the willingness of people who have a relative in a nursing home to actively participate in a joint physical activity program (referred to as a dyad physical activity program). The secondary aims were to explore the specific forms of participation that interested individuals would consider and to compare the characteristics of those who were interested in the project with those who were not.

This is an online survey carried out among people with relatives living in nursing homes in Belgium. A self-administered questionnaire was designed to collect data on socio-demographics, nursing home visits, level of physical activity and preferences for dyadic physical activity.

Of 226 participants in this survey, 155 (68.6%) expressed interest in the dyad physical activity program. The preferred format included frequency of 1 or 2 days per week (62%), duration of 30 min (62.3%), focus on well-being (50%), conducted in a group with other residents and their informal caregivers and supervised by a coach (63.3%). An analysis comparing interested participants to their non-interested counterparts showed that those expressing interest tended to be of a younger age (p = 0.01), more likely to be in a relationship (p < 0.001), spent longer visiting their loved ones (p = 0.007), and primarily engaged in spending quality time with them (p < 0.001).

The significant interest expressed by the respondents has encouraged a proposal for the future practical implementation of the project. This proposal aligns with our findings in terms of frequency, duration, type of physical activity and supervision preferred by the majority of respondents.