Impact of introducing physical activity into Sporting Memories Groups
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Introduction of physical activity into Sporting Memories Reminiscence Groups: An evaluation
IRAS ID
245671
Contact name
Claire Surr
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds Beckett University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Staying physically active in later life is important for health and well-being. However, many older people become more sedentary as they age. The Sporting Memories Network provide community-based sports reminiscence groups for people aged 50+ who may be experiencing dementia, depression or social isolation. Many people also attend the group with their carer. They have been awarded funding by Sport England to introduce one-hour of physical activity into their community groups. This study will look at how many people attend the groups regularly and take part in the physical activity and the impact of this on cognition, physical and mental well-being, social isolation and overall physical activity levels, for group participants, carer participants and the volunteers who run the groups. We will follow people who consent to take part and who attend one of 30 groups, over 12-months collecting data using questionnaires at baseline, 3-, 6- and 12-months.
Summary of Results
Participants reported many areas of Sporting Memories groups that they enjoyed. Participants mainly reported positive responses towards the introduction of physical activity into their group. Psychosocial benefits were mentioned, with lots of participants highlighting specific activities that they had particularly enjoyed. Some participants felt that more regular physical activity in the groups would be positive.
Generally, participants showed good physical and mental health, across questionnaires. However, this meant there was limited opportunity to demonstrate any improvements in any of these areas following the introduction of physical activity to the groups, as participants often scored the maximum score at baseline.
A number of learning points for Sporting Memories Foundation were identified:
• Overall people were very positive about and enjoyed the physical activities
• Any concerns raised about taking part in physical activities were related to potentially losing opportunity for social interaction, or around disabilities preventing participation by them or others – although such concerns were expressed by only a minority of participants
• At baseline the majority of participants had high levels of physical, role and social functioning and so few participants reported significant impairments in these areas.
• The majority of participants had good to excellent mental health again offering limited opportunity for physical activity to impact this.
• The short active lives survey was not ideal for use in this population in its current form. The addition of the household chores question developed by the research team provided further valuable information as a large proportion of participants reported they did take part in these activities and a significant proportion said it raised their breathing rate indicating this may be an important source of physical activity in this age group.
• Within the measure of cognitive functioning we asked participants to complete, we saw a wide range of scores. Sporting Memories groups might have the potential to help participants to maintain and improve skills around concentration and memory, which were problems participants were most likely to report.REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1014
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion