An investigation into activity levels of older people on a rehabilitation ward: an observational study

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• 作者：Fiona Patterson ; Valerie Blair ; Anne Currie ; William Reid
• 关键词：Rehabilitation ; Older people ; Activity levels
• 刊名：Physiotherapy
• 出版年：2005
• 出版时间：March 2005
• 年：2005
• 卷：91
• 期：1
• 页码：28-34
• 全文大小：141 K

文摘

Objectives To investigate the activity levels of older people who were inpatients in a rehabilitation ward.

Design Twelve-hour sessions of continuous observation of each subject, over three consecutive weekdays, established activity levels in various categories.

Setting Designated older people rehabilitation ward in a Medicine for the Elderly Unit.

Participants Convenience sample of six subjects.

Main outcome measures Time spent in various, pre-determined activity categories was monitored.

Results Activity levels in the ward were low, with subjects spending 19 % of the observed time sleeping and a further 46 % inactive. Less than 1 % of the day involved self-directed physical activity. Basic care took up 16 % of the day but intervention by members of the rehabilitation team constituted less than 2 % of the subjects’ day.

Conclusion Due to methodological limitations, the results of this study cannot be generalized to the whole population of older people in rehabilitation units. However, it has created a baseline from which changes could be made to improve rehabilitation services in this unit, and highlighted issues that are likely to be common in other rehabilitation settings. Moreover, a starting point for further investigation into reasons for lack of activity and how to increase activity to an effective and beneficial level has been established.