Assessing the effects of a health promotion programme for elderly people

Physical exercise is an increasingly popular health promotion activity for elderly people, although evidence of its effectiveness is limited. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the exercise component of the Look After Yourself (LAY) package promoted by the Health Education Authority in two groups of elderly people attending the 10 weekly sessions which make up the LAY course. Classes 1 and 2 comprised 13 and 18 subjects, aged from 65 to 89 years, and from 58 to 87 years respectively. Class 1 subjects were white with the exception of one Jamaican man, and Class 2 subjects were all Afro-Caribbean. Subjects had measurements of shoulder joint flexibility, grip strength, blood pressure, weight and a self-perceived health questionnaire, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) completed at baseline, 10 weeks and at six months. Class 1 showed reductions in grip strength and a deterioration in pain and mobility dimensions of the NHP, whereas Class 2 showed large improvements in shoulder joint flexibility and a small and non-significant trend towards improved self-perceived health. Class 2 subjects felt that they had benefited, and just over half had continued with an exercise programme. These findings suggest that the effect of mild exercise on objective indicators and self-perceived health may depend on the context in which it is done, the type of exercise promoted, and that continued exercise is aided by the provision of further group classes. There is a need for evaluation of the impact of different types of exercise programmes, covering a wider range of indicators of fitness, in larger groups of elderly people.