Factors related to long-term adherence to regular exercise in older women post hip fracture
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Abstract
Background. Ongoing adherence to exercise post hip fracture improves clinical outcomes. Unfortunately, older women post hip fracture do not continue to adhere to regular exercise. Understanding factors related to exercise behavior is critical so that interventions can be developed to increase exercise. Purpose. This study tested the impact of the Exercise Plus Program, a self-efficacy-based exercise intervention, on long-term adherence to regular exercise in older women post hip fracture who completed either of the two parent exercise interventions, Baltimore Hip Studies (BHS) 4 or 5 randomized-controlled trial. Methods. A descriptive, correlational study was conducted with 101 older women 14 to 48 months post hip fracture who completed a one-time telephone interview 2 to 36 months after completion of either parent study. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized relationships among age, education, treatment group, time post parent study completion (TPPSC), pain, fear of falling, resilience, social support for exercise, stage of change, self-efficacy expectations for exercise (SEE), outcome expectations for exercise (OEE), and exercise behavior. Results. Participants were all female, mean age of 80 (SD 7.6), mainly white, and lived in the community. Approximately half were widowed, high school educated, and did not exercise at all. On average, they exercised 2 hours per week; had moderate SEE, resilience, and fear of falling; had high OEE; and had rarely no social support for exercise. Path analysis revealed 10 of the 37 hypothesized paths were statistically significant. SEE, pain, and social support for exercise explained 32% of the variance in exercise behavior. Education, resilience, fear of falling, and TPPSC explained 30% of the variance in SEE. The hypothesized model showed an excellent fit to the data (chi2m=36 (df=29, p=.20), chi 2m/dfm=1.2, CFI=.90, and RMSEA=.00) and model trimming showed no significant improvement in model fit. Conclusions. Older women post hip fracture did not meet the current national recommended exercise guidelines. The findings suggest that ongoing research is needed to test inoculation interventions that strengthen SEE, maintain social support for exercise, and alleviate pain after an exercise intervention is completed which may improve their long-term adherence to regular exercise.