Interventions To Address Sedentary Behaviour For Older Adults: A Scoping Review

Purpose: Sedentary behaviour is associated with increased risk for lower health status and all-cause mortality. Older adults spend up to 75%, on average, of their day sedentary, however little is known about interventions designed to decrease sitting time for this population. Methods: A scoping review was conducted to broadly determine what is known about sedentary behaviour interventions for older adults. Electronic databases were searched for articles with eligibility criteria including: (1) interventions containing strategies to decrease sedentary behaviour, (2) adults >= 60 years of age, and (3) reported outcome measures related to sedentary behaviour. Results: A total of 32 articles met the inclusion criteria. While methodological quality and intervention characteristics varied among the studies, the majority of interventions used a multi-component approach. Interventions involved a variety of behavioural change strategies with goal setting, information and self-monitoring the most frequently used. Of the 20 studies reporting results, 80% (n = 16) found at least one significant change in sedentary behaviour. Conclusion: Findings from this scoping review suggest that sedentary behaviour can be reduced in community-dwelling older adults through multi-component targeted interventions. Future work is needed to examine sedentary behaviour interventions for adults >75 years and for persons living in long-term care institutions.