Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Importance of Physical Activity... and How Nurses Play a Key Role

In a new article in the American Journal of Nursing, authors Todd Ruppar and Vicki Conn present their findings from a meta-analysis designed to synthesize findings from 163 studies related to promoting physical activity in adults with chronic illness. They found that there are several interventions that effectively promote physical activity across a variety of patient populations.
"On average, intervention increased physical activity the equivalent of 945 steps per day, or 48 minutes of physical activity per week, per patient—an amount that's likely to be clinically important for sedentary, chronically ill adults. Among the numerous intervention attributes and practices, however, the effect on physical activity varied considerably. This article addresses the implications of these meta-analysis findings in order to provide nurses with reliable evidence supporting or negating the purported benefits of common strategies and practices used to promote physical activity among chronically ill adults."
Click here to read the article.

INQRI commends the authors on this important work. In fact, INQRI researchers at the University of Maryland are in the final stages of a randomized controlled trial to test a restorative care intervention for assisted living (AL). This project was designed to maintain or improve the residents' physical activity, physical status, function, and length of stay in the facility. The secondary aim related to residents focuses on mood, life satisfaction, resilience, self-efficacy and outcome expectations, social-support for exercise, and person-environment fit. The project incorporates patient centered outcomes (falls); nursing centered outcomes (restorative care services); and system-centered outcomes (staff turnover) as designated by the National Quality Forum. This team is co-led by Barbara Resnick, PhD, CRNP, a nurse researcher, and Sheryl Zimmerman, PhD, MSW, a social worker.

Click here to read the team's recent article from the May-June 2010 edition of Geriatric Nursing.

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