Social-media based Health Education plus Exercise Programme (SHEEP) to improve muscle function among young-old adults with possible sarcopenia in the community: a study protocol for intervention development
Authors: Shi Ya , Stanmore Emma , McGarrigle Lisa , Todd Chris 
Published: May 2023

Introduction

Prevalence of possible sarcopenia is estimated to be significantly higher in community-dwelling older adults than that of confirmed or severe sarcopenia. However, there are currently far fewer non-pharmacological intervention strategies for possible sarcopenia than for sarcopenia in the community. Meanwhile, one type of non-pharmacological intervention in sarcopenic area, health education, is under-researched, and older people’s awareness about sarcopenia is extremely low, necessitating an immediate dissemination tool for prevention. Social media may be a potential, scalable, low-cost tool for this. This study protocol outlines how a social media-based multicomponent intervention will be co-designed with stakeholders to address this evidence gap.

Methods and analysis

Guided by the Medical Research Council’s framework, the proposed research covers two phases that employ a co-design approach to develop a theory-based multicomponent intervention to increase sarcopenia prevention in the community. The participants will be recruited from young-old adults (60∼69) with possible sarcopenia in the community of Changsha, China. Maximum sample size will be 45 participants in total, with 18∼25 participants in the development phase and 15∼20 participants in the pre-testing phase. During two rounds of focus groups with older adults, a social-media based intervention strategy will be developed from a theory-based conceptual model and an initial intervention plan formulated by the research group. After this, there will be a three-week pre-testing phase, followed by a semi-structured interview to further modify the theory-based conceptual model and the social-media based intervention strategy. The focus of the data analysis will be on thematic analysis of qualitative data primarily derived from the group interview and the semi-structured interview with key stakeholders.

Ethics and dissemination

This study has been approved by the University of Manchester Research Ethics Committee (Project ID: 15664), and permissions have already been granted by collaborators in relevant Chinese organisations. We will collaborate with stakeholders to inform our dissemination strategy and co-present our findings (e.g., at community events or through social media). Furthermore, we will disseminate our findings to academics and healthcare professionals via webinars, academic conferences, and peer-reviewed publications.

Strengths and limitations of this study

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This is the first study to develop a health education and exercise intervention aimed at improving muscle function in community-dwelling young-old adults with possible sarcopenia.

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This is the first study in the sarcopenic area to develop a multicomponent intervention for sarcopenia prevention based on social media (TikTok).

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This study addresses some shortcomings of single text or audio materials or lengthy lessons in current health education for sarcopenia with short videos.

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This study employs co-design to ensure that the intervention strategy is acceptable to relevant stakeholders and meets their needs by soliciting their input.

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The sample size will be small that it may not be representative of the entire Chinese older population.

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This study will not draw any conclusions about the intervention effectiveness due to the short duration of the pre-testing phase.

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The study findings are unique to the community setting and population in China and may not be generalised to other settings or countries.