Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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Daily Overview |
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Union3_1: Abstract presentations: Physical Activity Across the Life Course: From Chronic Conditions to Active Ageing Location: Grand Hotel Union Session Chair: Suzana Pustivšek | |
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10:00am - 10:10am
MAintAin Activity in Arthritis: A Feasibility Study 1: RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland; 2: University College Dublin, Ireland; 3: University of Manchester, UK; 4: PPI, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland; 5: University of Southampton, UK; 6: University of Limerick, Ireland; 7: Karolinska Institutet, Sweden Background: Despite the wealth of evidence demonstrating the health benefits of physical activity (PA), people with arthritis commonly do not meet recommended PA levels. Whilst various programmes support people with arthritis to become active, most individuals reduce their PA levels after completion of a structured exercise programme. This pre-post feasibility study evaluated a newly co-developed PA maintenance intervention (MAintAin) for people living with arthritis, after completion of a physiotherapy-led structured exercise programme. Methods: MAintAin, a 16 week predominantly group-based PA coaching intervention comprised of PA monitoring, goal-setting, planning and education by a trained provider in a community setting. It was conducted in three waves of cohorts in Ireland. Twenty-seven participants (81% female, 93% aged >55 years, 93% diagnosis of osteoarthrits, 100% white) were recruited. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment, retention, and satisfaction. Process measures included PA Behavioural Automaticity and Action Coping Planning questionnaires. Results: The study met 90% target recruitment, and 89% of participants provided follow-up data. Eighty-eight percent of participants reported being either satisfied or very satisfied with the intervention. Preliminary analyses suggested PA planning scores increased from 25.26 to 31.42/44 (mean increase of 6.16 points, 14%). Behavioural Automaticity scores decreased from 10.19 to 8.33/20 (mean reduction of 1.86 points, 9%). Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the MAintAin intervention is feasible, acceptable, and capable of supporting increases in PA planning and automaticity among people with arthritis. High recruitment, retention, and satisfaction rates indicate strong suitability for further evaluation. These results will inform intervention optimisation and the design of a future randomised trial. | |
