Togetherness in a Safe and Motivating Environment at Meeting Places: Older Persons' Experiences of Group Exercises

Many municipalities in Sweden offer group exercises for older persons at meeting places, i.e., senior centres. However, it is unclear whether older persons experience group exercises as in accordance with their needs and wishes.

The aim was to explore older persons' experiences of participating in group exercises held at meeting places in municipalities from a person-centred perspective.

Individual interviews were conducted with 18 persons aged 65 and over who participated in group exercises at meeting places in six different municipalities. The interview guide was based on a person-centred framework. The data were analysed using content analysis, first deductively and then inductively.

The findings were presented in two main categories. The first concerned incentives for older persons to continue exercising in groups, which were held at meeting places. Such incentives were the encouragement they felt from the power of the group and the fact that the group exercises made them feel good. They also felt a sense of worth from having time and effort invested in them. The second main category included mixed feelings about the interaction between the older persons and the stakeholders, primarily the exercise leader. On the one hand, the older persons felt a strong trust in the exercise leaders, but on the other, they felt ambivalent and had ambiguous feelings regarding their own opportunities to influence the group exercises.

To conclude, the group exercises held at meeting places contribute to meaningful relationships and a sense of social belonging and togetherness. The intervention not only promotes physical and mental health but also counters loneliness and social isolation, and therefore needs to be scaled up even more. This study highlights the need to make group exercises more person-centred and to introduce processes that include the needs and wishes of older persons in the design of such interventions.