Enhancing Well-Being Through Exercise During Old Age

Enhancing Well-Being Through Exercise During Old Age

Determine the feasibility of adapting Fit & Strong!, an evidence-based group physical activity and health education program, to include affect and mood-related content and of employing this intervention among older adults with a range of depressive symptoms.

The specific aims of this pilot are to use a small randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a wait list control design to: 1) Determine the feasibility of adapting Fit & Strong! to include affect and mood-related content and of employing this intervention among older adults with a range of depressive symptoms. 2) Begin to determine whether Fit & Strong! is efficacious as an approach for improving positive affect, reducing negative affect, decreasing symptoms of depression, and improving cognition among older adults. 3) Explore the relationship between negative/positive affect and symptoms of depression and maintenance of physical activity between baseline and 2 months, in order to determine whether improved positive affect and reduced negative affect and depression and improved cognition are associated with an increase in physical activity.

Inclusion Criteria:

• ages 60+;
• Sufficient visual and hearing capacity to follow instructions;
• a score of at least 1 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (Kroenke et al., 2001);
• Six Item Screener (Callahan, 2002) score > 4;
• pass screening with the Exercise Assessment and Screening for You (EASY) scale [Cardinal et al., 1996] or have doctor's clearance to participate;
• no recent (<6 months) joint replacements;
• physically inactive (<150 minutes of exercise per week);
• able to walk at least 20 feet (with or without the aid of a cane or walker);
• speak English proficiently.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-proficient in English;
• 0 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (Kroenke et al., 2001);
• Six Item Screener < 5 (Callahan, 2005);
• fail screening with the EASY scale and does not have doctor's clearance to participate;
• joint replacement in last 6 months;
• 150+ minutes of exercise per week;
• unable to walk at least 20 feet;
• severe medical illness (i.e., metastatic cancer, brain tumors, unstable cardiac, hepatic, or renal disease, myocardial infarction or stroke) within the 3 months preceding the study;
• Other brain/neurological disorders (i.e., dementia or delirium according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) criteria, history of severe head trauma, Parkinson's disease or Parkinson's plus syndromes, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy);
• Conditions often associated with depression (i.e., endocrinopathies other than diabetes, lymphoma, and pancreatic cancer).

Potential participants for the optional MRI component will be excluded for the following:

• cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator
• metal parts in head, spinal cord, eyes, or chest
• past operation or radiation therapy with skull or brain: e) aneurysm clips
• dentures that have been surgically implanted with magnets, braces:
• claustrophobia:
• heart valve replacement:
• history of work with metal resulting in an injury:
• eye injury with metal:
• history of strokes/seizures: