WP 1:
The main constructs physical activity, individual characteristics, and environmental factors were operationalized. Based on the existing literature and relevant theoretical models, individual characteristics that could potentially influence PA in older adults were identified and included in a systematic review of the literature. The ER evaluated 16 potential datasets. Three datasets were selected as suitable for the project: Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam (LASA); Berlin Aging Study II (BASE II), and Study of Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The ER signed agreements for use of those datasets. The ER also conducted several smaller scale pilot studies. Relevant individual characteristics were identified in the datasets: LASA: Age, gender, education, diseases, subjective health, walking aids, self-efficacy, perceived physical ability; BASE II: Subjective age, age, gender, education, depressive symptoms, morbidity, BMI, cognitive performance; SHARE dataset was deemed as not appropriate for the analyses because the physical activities were not sufficiently differentiated.
WP 2:
Information was gathered from the existing literature and also from the Physical Activity Compendium. Categories were established. However, it also became clear that it is frequently not precisely described which type of physical activity was measured in a given study, or that (when accelerometry is used) only a composite score of physical activity is reported. An overview of the European datasets with PA data is available upon request to interested parties. It will be made available on the website at the ER’s new university shortly.
WP 3:
The trajectory of the proportional contribution of different PA domains to total PA time as people aged was mapped. Several public engagement events to educate people about the importance and trajectory of PAs in old age were held.
A book chapter focusing on motivation as a relevant individual characteristic was published.
WP 4:
A secondment at the University Medicine Greifswald took place October 2017 until January 2018. A literature review examining the environment factors that are associated with higher PA levels in old age was started; it is still in progress because the data extraction turned out to be more complicated than originally anticipated. The following steps remain to be completed: writing of results and discussion sections.
A public engagement took place:
Notthoff, N. (2018). Wohin die Füße tragen wollen… Bedeutung von physischer und sozialer Umwelt für Aktivität im Alter. (Whereto our feet want to carry… The role of the physical and social environment for physical activity in older age). Invited talk at the AEQUIPA Conference, Bremen, Germany.
WP 5:
Statistical analyses examining the interplay of different individual characteristics and environment factors in their importance for PA were conducted. The manuscript is still a work in progress. The following sections have been completed: introduction; methods; part of results. The following sections need to be completed: part of results; discussion. The results will be presented at the Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting held in Boston in November 2018.
Possible points for intervention were identified: either PAs that older adults tend to continue engaging in as they grow older (e.g. light housework) or PAs that they perform less of (e.g. structured sports). The ER completed several trainer certification programs in order to be able to design appropriate programs in interventions. The ER secured a tenure track position as Assistant Professor for Exercise Psychology at a leading German university.
