Maintaining Exercise and Healthy Eating in Older Adults

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目的主要目标是开发有效的干预方法，长期维持老年人的健康生活方式行为（运动和饮食），以改善他们的健康状况和生活质量。具体目标是解决以下问题：（1）与对照条件相比，在老年人中，个体化主动维持干预是否能在四年内维持更高水平的健康饮食和锻炼行为？(2)什么是与老年人感知的健康促进行为维持相关的心理社会因素？(3)健康促进行为的感知维持对报告的健康结果、心理社会测量、人体测量和认知状态有什么影响？以及（4）在老年人的子样本中，自我报告和客观测量的运动和饮食水平（包括与身体活动和饮食相关的环境因素）之间的关系是什么？该项目的健康相关性很重要，因为它的目标是在美国日益重要的人口群体-老年人中促进两种基本的健康相关行为（运动和饮食）。研究设计和方法纳入了社区居住的老年人人口（预计N = 680从原始样本1277，平均年龄= 80岁）跟踪超过2年的一部分，以前资助的高级项目（运动和营养研究在老年罗德岛人）。受试者将被随机分为干预组和对照组，按之前的SENIOR项目组分配进行分层。这两组将每年接受采访，以评估运动水平和水果和蔬菜消费，一般健康结果和心理社会变量。实验组将接受基于阶段的干预措施（手册，通讯和辅导电话），重点是积极保持规定的运动水平和水果和蔬菜消费。干预材料将包括特定内容，重点是保持行为水平的关键技能、过程和方法，尽管有疾病、住院、福尔斯、社会经济变化和人际关系丧失等复发威胁。这项拟议的研究代表了一个独特的和前所未有的机会，以了解在一个大规模的老年人队列中维持健康生活方式的动态，超过十年的纵向随访研究。这项研究对公共卫生的意义是巨大的。老年人是美国增长最快的人口群体，对我们的社会构成了前所未有的健康促进挑战。最近的研究表明，一些与老年有关的慢性健康问题可以预防或推迟和控制，减少慢性疾病的负担，提高功能能力，并可能节省大量的医疗保健费用。人们特别关注运动和饮食，认为它们最有可能实现这些目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The broad objectives of this research project are to develop effective intervention methods for long-term maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors (exercise and diet) in older adults to improve their health status and quality of life. The specific aims are to address the following questions: (1) Does an individualized active- maintenance intervention maintain greater levels of healthy dietary and exercise behaviors for four years, compared to a control condition, in older adults? (2) What are the psychosocial factors associated with perceived maintenance of health-promoting behaviors in the very old? (3) What are the effects of the perceived maintenance of health-promoting behaviors on reported health outcomes, psychosocial measures, anthropometries, and cognitive status? and (4) What is the relationship between self-reported and objectively measured levels of exercise and diet in a sub-sample of older adults (including environmental factors associated with physical activity and diet)? The health-relatedness of this project is significant, because it is targeted on promoting two essential health-related behaviors (exercise and diet) among an increasingly important population group in the US, older adults. The research design and methodology incorporates a community-dwelling older adult population (projected N = 680 from an original sample of 1277, mean age = 80 years) tracked for over 2 years as part of the previously funded SENIOR Project (Study of Exercise and Nutrition in Older Rhode Islanders). Participants will be randomized into intervention and control groups stratified by previous SENIOR Project group assignment. Both groups will be interviewed annually to assess exercise levels and fruit and vegetable consumption, general health outcomes, and psychosocial variables. The experimental group will receive stage-based interventions (manual, newsletters, and coaching calls) focusing on actively maintaining defined levels of exercise and fruit and vegetable consumption. Intervention materials will incorporate specific content focusing on key skills, processes, and methods of maintaining behavioral levels in spite of such threats to relapse as illness, hospitalization, falls, socioeconomic changes, and interpersonal losses. This proposed research represents a unique and unprecedented opportunity to understand the dynamics of healthy lifestyle maintenance in a large-scale older adult cohort over ten years of longitudinal follow-up study. The relevance of this research for public health is enormous. Older adults represent the fastest growing US population group and pose unprecedented health promotion challenges to our society. Recent research indicates that some of the chronic health problems associated with old age may be prevented or postponed and controlled, reducing the burden of chronic disease and improving functional ability and potentially saving substantial health care dollars. Particular attention has focused on exercise and diet as having the most potential for achieving these aims.