There was no evidence for a relationship between intervention effectiveness and mode of delivery or number of intervention contacts ; however , interventions which involved individually tailoring with personalized activity goals or provision of information about local opportunities in the environment may be more effective .
Conclusions Interventions in adults aged 55 to 70 years led to long term improvements in physical activity at 12 months ; however , maintenance beyond this is unclear .
Identified physical activity improvements are likely to have substantial health benefits in reducing the risk of age-related illnesses .
Background Retirement represents a major transitional life stage in middle to older age .
Changes in physical activity typically accompany this transition , which has significant consequences for health and well-being .
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for the effect of interventions to promote physical activity in adults aged 55 to 70 years , focusing on studies that reported long-term effectiveness .
Study protocol of a cluster randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of a tailored energy balance programme for recent retirees
Background People in transitional life stages , such as occupational retirement , are likely to gain weight and accumulate abdominal fat mass caused by changes in physical activity and diet . Hence , retirees are an important target group for weight gain prevention programmes , as described in the present paper . Methods / Design A systematic and stepwise approach ( Intervention Mapping ) is used to develop a low-intensity energy balance intervention programme for recent retirees . This one-year , low-intensity multifaceted programme aims to prevent accumulation of abdominal fat mass and general weight gain by increasing awareness of energy balance and influencing related behaviours of participants ' preference . These behaviours are physical activity , fibre intake , portion size and fat consumption . The effectiveness of the intervention programme is tested in a cluster r and omised controlled trial . Measurements of anthropometry , physical activity , energy intake , and related psychosocial determinants are performed at baseline and repeated at 6 months for intermediate effect , at 12 months to evaluate short-term intervention effects and at 24 months to test the sustainability of the effects . Discussion This intervention programme is unique in its focus on retirees and energy balance . It aims at increasing awareness and takes into account personal preferences of the users by offering several options for behaviour change . Moreover , the intervention programme is evaluated at short-term and long-term and includes consecutive outcome measures ( determinants , behaviour and body composition )
There was no evidence for a relationship between intervention effectiveness and mode of delivery or number of intervention contacts ; however , interventions which involved individually tailoring with personalized activity goals or provision of information about local opportunities in the environment may be more effective .
Conclusions Interventions in adults aged 55 to 70 years led to long term improvements in physical activity at 12 months ; however , maintenance beyond this is unclear .
Identified physical activity improvements are likely to have substantial health benefits in reducing the risk of age-related illnesses .
Background Retirement represents a major transitional life stage in middle to older age .
Changes in physical activity typically accompany this transition , which has significant consequences for health and well-being .
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for the effect of interventions to promote physical activity in adults aged 55 to 70 years , focusing on studies that reported long-term effectiveness .