A Walking Program for Nursing Home Residents: Effects on Walk Endurance, Physical Activity, Mobility, and Quality of Life

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of a 12-week walking program on walk endurance capacity, physical activity level, mobility, and quality of life in ambulatory nursing home residents who had been identified as having low physical activity levels and low walk endurance capacities. To determine the effects of 12 versus 22 weeks of walk training on walk endurance capacity, physical activity level, mobility, and quality of life in ambulatory nursing home residents. DESIGN: Experiment 1: Residents of one nursing home campus were assigned to the walking program, and residents of a second campus were assigned to the social visit control group. Outcome measures were taken before and after 12 weeks. Experiment 2: Pretest/posttest with outcome measures taken before and, again, after 12 and 22 weeks of walking. SETTING: Two campuses of the Jewish Homes for the Aging in the Los Angeles area. PARTICIPANTS: Experiment 1: Nineteen of 22 residents in the walking group completed the walking program, and 12 of 15 residents in the control group completed the study. Experiment 2: Thirty of 41 residents (from the two nursing homes) completed the 22-week walking program. INTERVENTION: Experiment 1: The walking program involved each resident walking with research staff at his/her self-selected walking pace, 5 days per week for 12 weeks, for a maximum of 30 minutes per day; while the control group had weekly individual social visits, which lasted 30 minutes, from a research assistant. Experiment 2: All residents, those in both the walking and the control group, were offered the opportunity to complete 22 weeks of walking. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Maximal walk endurance capacity, the resident's maximum walk time performed in a single day of walking (distance and speed also were measured); physical activity level based on time-sampled observations and physical activity monitors; mobility as measured with the Timed-Up-and-Go test, left handgrip strength, and Tinetti's Mobility Assessment; and quality of life as assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale (a bodily pain scale) and the Dartmouth Primary Care Cooperative Information Project (COOP) physical work chart. RESULTS: Experiment 1: The walking group significantly improved their maximal walk endurance time by 77% and distance by 92%, with no significant change in walk speed; however, the control group showed no significant changes in these variables. There were no significant group by time interactions on measures of physical activity, mobility, and quality of life. Experiment 2: No further significant changes were found from 12 to 22 weeks in walk endurance capacity, physical activity, mobility, or quality of life. CONCLUSION: Twelve weeks of daily walking at a self-selected walking pace by ambulatory nursing home residents produced significant improvements in walk endurance capacity. No other significant changes were noted in physical activity level, mobility, or quality of life in either group after the intervention. Also, there were no side effects, such as increases in falls or cardiovascular complications, due to the walking intervention. Lengthening the walking program to 22 weeks produced no further significant changes in any outcome measures. J Am Geriatr Soc 44:175–180, 1996.