Background
The incidence of falls in older persons is expected to increase in upcoming years [
1]. Widely disseminated fall prevention programs for community-dwelling, fall-prone older adults aim to impede falls and their individual and socio-economic consequences.
Most evidence-based fall prevention programs are based on ‘structured’ group exercises conducted at least once a week [
2,
3]. These programs often fail to sustain long-term effectiveness due to regressive adherence rates [
4].
The alternative approach of lifestyle-integrated training [
5] aims for higher adherence rates through long-term behavior change. The Lifestyle-integrated Functional Exercise (LiFE) program [
6] embeds functional strength and balance activities into daily life to enhance physical function and activity of adults aged 70 years and older. Implementing activities in recurrent opportunities is used as a strategy to help participants create new habits [
7], which constitutes a key mechanism for long-term maintenance of behavior change. LiFE recorded a significant reduction in fall rate (31%) compared to the control group (gentle and flexibility exercises). According to a recent review [
8], adherence for LiFE was higher compared to structured training during the intervention periods. One randomized controlled trial rated completing LiFE activities on at least three days a week, or structured home exercises three times a week, as 100% adherence [
6]. The results showed significantly higher adherence to LiFE (64% of participants) compared with structured training (53%) [
6]. Poor adherence (<25%) was evident in 19% of structured training compared to 7% of LiFE participants [
6].
However, its delivery through seven one-to-one home visits requires considerable time and human resources. This has recently been addressed by Kramer and colleagues [
9], who developed and tested a potentially resource-saving group-based LiFE (gLiFE) concept, delivered to eight to twelve participants by two trainers in seven group sessions. The authors reported successful implementation and regular execution of activities in daily life: after the last intervention session, participants (
n = 6) had implemented 9.5 (IQR = 4.0) out of 14 LiFE activities into their daily lives. Furthermore, five out of six participants had implemented activities five days a week over the course of the program. Effectiveness, however, has not been established yet, as gLiFE is currently being evaluated in an ongoing trial in comparison to the individual LiFE program [
10].
Besides evaluating intervention effectiveness, considering participants’ attitudes towards such interventions and whether they are acceptable, is essential for long-term success [
11]. Acceptability is related to the perceived appropriateness based on anticipated or experienced cognitive and emotional responses to an intervention [
12]. The construct of acceptability encompasses different components: affective attitudes, burden, ethicality, intervention coherence, opportunity costs, perceived effectiveness, and self-efficacy [
12]. Levels of acceptability may critically affect how likely participants are to adhere to home-based exercise, and consequently to benefit from the intervention [
13]. Conversely, low acceptance of the intervention can negatively impact its effectiveness [
14]. Assessing LiFE's and gLiFE's acceptability is indispensable for intervention refinement, and vital for both research and clinical practice to understand how the intervention formats can be sustainable over time. To date, only a few qualitative studies on this topic exist, although a thorough analysis is recommended in the evaluation of complex intervention by the Medical Research Council guidelines [
15]. The main differences between gLiFE and LiFE that may influence participants’ acceptance of the intervention are the following:
LiFE participants receive the program directly in their home, facilitating identification and testing of suitable daily situations for implementing LiFE. One-to-one delivery allows a highly personalized training and closer contact between trainer and participants, which could influence participants’ exercise behavior and perception of the program. A previous qualitative study on a different LiFE approach [
8] for adults age 60 to 70 suggested that trainer support was a strong motivator to carry out the activities. Participants valued the flexibility and personalized nature of the program. In gLiFE, different strategies were implemented to compensate for these missing aspects of individual delivery.
gLiFE participants can potentially benefit from learning the activities in a group. A previous group-based LiFE study [
16] suggested that participants valued the support from and interaction within the group. Fellowship and shared experiences with peers have been described as facilitators in maintaining long-term exercise [
17]. Social support from an exercise group can enhance motivation [
18], affective responses, and the benefits of the intervention [
19,
20].
Regarding a potential large-scale dissemination of gLiFE, the current study aims to explore how experiences of participation differ between gLiFE and LiFE, and whether both formats are acceptable to the target population of fall-prone older adults, aged 70 years and older.
Results
Five overarching themes were identified: Program overall, trainer support, content of the program, format of the program, and changing behavior. The results are illustrated by quotes, translated from German to English. Participants are identified by group, gender, and age (e.g., gF73 = gLiFE, female, 73 years; oM80 = original LiFE, male, 80 years).
Program overall
Participants reaction to the overall program did not differ much in the two program formats. In both formats, participants were positive about the program: “The LiFE-program is great and I enjoyed it” (gF73); “It seemed [ …] very well structured” (oM78). Most participants understood and liked the concept of lifestyle-integrated exercise: “And what I found appealing is that these are exercises that can be integrated into daily life” (gF70). Many participants further valued the focus on independent exercising: “Doing my own thing at home alone, not having to join any sports clubs or groups, that is exactly the right thing for me” (oM80).
Participants experienced some troubles with the paperwork for the study. The monthly fall calendar and the set of questions at baseline and follow-up assessments were perceived as “quite annoying” (gF70) by some participants in both formats.
Trainer support
In general, gLiFE and LiFE participants spoke positively about the teaching styles of their trainers: “The guidance and instructions were great [ …] and well explained” (gM82) and “I think, my impression was entirely positive. He [the trainer] had a very good pedagogical approach. So, it was very clear” (oM80).
Participants in both formats felt individually supported by the trainers during teaching sessions. LiFE participants described how the trainers adapted the programs to their abilities and gave feedback on their performance during activities: “She really catered to my needs and abilities and had another idea, on how to adapt things if I could not do them” (oF72). gLiFE participants described how the trainers approached them individually within the group setting. “They really responded to the individual’s situation” (gF77); “They would correct the execution of activities in a very caring way, I would say. So, when someone did not do it correctly, then they very gently approached you and said, try this or try that.” (gF70).
For gLiFE participants, it seemed important not to feel pressured by trainers or exposed in front of their peers when they were having difficulties with an exercise: “You never had to feel embarrassed. For example, I have a problem with my hip and I cannot step over objects sideways. But nobody gave me a weird look and I could just tell the trainers that I cannot do it […] and never felt pressured” (gF72).
LiFE focus groups discussed their relationship with the trainers in more detail, for example by praising their personality (e.g. how cheerful or friendly they were): “He [the trainer] always arrived with a big smile on his face and we were always happy to see each other. He was always so cheerful, even in the morning” (oF80). Furthermore, they described the one-on-one supervision as an opportunity for a personal exchange with the trainer: “So I liked that you could talk to them about personal stuff, too. There was an exchange and I really enjoyed that. We had great conversations” (oF74).
Discussion
This is the first qualitative study comparing and describing participants’ experiences of gLiFE and LiFE, to identify whether both programs are acceptable to community-dwelling older adults at risk of falling. The programs’ acceptability to the participants will be analyzed using a selection of Sekhon’s [
12] component constructs for acceptability, namely: intervention coherence, affective attitudes, burden, perceived effectiveness, and self-efficacy.
Participants found both LiFE programs acceptable, indicating that both formats are suitable for the target group. LiFE’s main aim, integrating the activities into daily life, was well received and understood by gLiFE and LiFE participants. This perception of so-called intervention coherence (the extent to which participants understand the goal of an intervention and the mechanism behind it) positively influences acceptability [
12]. The possibility to train independently in one’s home was perceived as a strength of both LiFE formats. These results underline findings from previous LiFE feasibility studies delivered one-to-one [
6,
8] or in a group [
9,
16,
37], further supporting that LiFE can be seen as a promising alternative to structured fall prevention programs [
5], also in a group setting.
In both formats, the support by trainers played an important role for the participants’ affective attitudes towards the program. Previous studies highlighted that professional help and the motivational support of an exercise specialist were important factors in older adults’ attitudes towards, and attendance of, exercise classes [
38]. The perception of being addressed individually by trainers, in both LiFE and gLiFE, indicates that gLiFE also offers opportunities for individual support. Our findings are in line with a previous study of LiFE showing that individual content adaptation is indispensable to enhance acceptability and exercise adherence [
39]. Only LiFE participants addressed their trainer’s personality traits, suggesting that individual training and personal exchange strengthen the trainer-participant relationship in LiFE compared to gLiFE. gLiFE participants appreciated that they never felt pressured by trainers when they had difficulties performing some LiFE activities during group sessions. This is in line with research showing that a trainer’s controlling coaching style can decrease a participant’s autonomous motivation [
40]. Trainers that reaffirm participants in their own decision-making and respect their individual capabilities are an important factor for building motivation and confidence in gLiFE. The perception of self-efficacy, i.e. the participants confidence to perform a required behavior, was found to be crucial for the acceptability of an intervention [
12]. In gLiFE and LiFE, the majority of participants said they were confident in being able to perform the activities and to maintain the exercise routine. Our findings suggest that both formats were able to support participants in building the confidence to sustainably engage in LiFE.
The structures of gLiFE and LiFE were well received, particularly the repetition of learned activities at the beginning of each group session were perceived as helpful to remember and to consolidate the movement execution. This indicates that the structural modifications developed for gLiFE [
9] were appropriate. As in previous LiFE studies [
9,
41] participants perceived the LiFE manual as a helpful tool for corrections which highlights usefulness of a manual in both groups.
In both formats, participants preferred activities that were easy to integrate in daily life. The importance of activities being achievable and easy to integrate into daily life routines has been discussed before [
41]. Specific LiFE activities were perceived as too artificial or difficult to perform, e.g. due to personal health problems. This finding has already been described by Boulton et al. [
8]. Therefore, assessing which and why certain activities are not feasible, as well as increasing participants' autonomy might be essential. Indeed, previous qualitative evaluations of LiFE showed that integrating participants’ ideas may be important to facilitate their long-term goal achievement [
8].
gLiFE participants stated that they took care of their safety while practicing LiFE at home, so gLiFE seems to sufficiently convey important safety aspects of home exercise. We can only speculate why LiFE participants did not discuss safety aspects: maybe these were considered less important or handled more naturally without participants actively reflecting on them as they learn and practice LiFE directly in their home setting. Fear of falling, and improvements in fear of falling, were mainly addressed by LiFE participants. Addressing the fear of falling was not in the scope of the programs, and this focus of participants could be explained by their previous experiences: LiFE participants in our sample reported a higher number of fall incidents at baseline compared to gLiFE participants.
The burden of participation is a relevant component construct of acceptability [
12]. The required paperwork for the study (e.g. monthly fall calendar) was perceived as time-consuming by both gLiFE and LiFE participants. Even though documentation mainly related to the study and will be much shorter in a potential roll-out of the programs, it may have influenced acceptability of programs. Overall, participants statements indicate satisfaction with gLiFE’s and LiFE’s intensity, suggesting that the perceived effort to participate in the program (i.e. physical and cognitive requirements) was generally appropriate. A few participants of both formats felt they were not challenged enough by the activities after some time. The principle of upgrading the difficulty of the activities might have been insufficiently conveyed by the trainers, therefore the participants may not have fully understood that they should adapt activity intensity. On the other hand, it could be that participants preferred to practice in their “comfort zone”, instead of putting themselves into unstable or exhaustive situations to challenge themselves. Revising the theory class on upgrading exercise should be considered for future studies to ensure the participants’ awareness of the importance of gradual intensity progression [
42]. The nature of lifestyle-integrated exercise (small activity bouts throughout the day) might feel less challenging compared to exercising for a set period of time.
Participants of both formats named various benefits when asked about their thoughts on learning LiFE in groups (e.g. being more motivated due to social comparison or social support), which is in line with studies that emphasize the importance of peer contact in fostering positive physical activity experiences among older adults [
43,
44]. Studies demonstrate that when people do exercise in groups, especially when participants experience cohesion, adherence levels [
19] or outcomes like functional balance [
45] improve significantly compared to exercising alone. As argued in the Self-Determination Theory [
25], social contextual events like peer feedback can foster feelings of competence and enhance intrinsic motivation. Low motivation has been identified as a cause for adults not to adhere to home-based activities [
18]. Based on our findings, the social aspects of the group as a motivating factor could be considered an advantage of gLiFE over LiFE. Nonetheless, not all gLiFE participants experienced group cohesiveness. Previous studies showed that task and social cohesion (individual attraction towards the group task and the group members) are related to older adults’ exercise adherence [
46]. We suggest that the facilitation of group processes in gLiFE should be refined to foster group cohesion. Increasing the feeling of being understood by the trainers could be achieved by employing trainers which are nearly the same age as participants. This has been found effective in other settings like diabetes care [
47].
LiFE participants were satisfied about receiving individual training at home. This supports previous research [
48] pointing at the preference of older adults’ for home-based activities and/or exercising alone, and highlights the importance of individual preferences for exercise settings. gLiFE could be a good compromise as it combines group-based teaching with independent home-based training.
A single home visit to support implementation of activities was suggested as a possible improvement to gLiFE by participants. Adding one single home visit to gLiFE would reduce its’ assumed low-cost delivery, and hence financial feasibility and large-scale implementability from a stakeholder perspective. Although some gLiFE participants had difficulties finding the right daily cue during group sessions, results suggest that the principle of tying LiFE activities to different situational cues in order to create new movement habits was understood by most participants. This supports study findings of group-based [
16] and individual LiFE [
8]. The fact that not being in the home environment could cause difficulties in action planning was addressed in the design of gLiFE by including compensational strategies, like group discussions to collect the participants’ suggestions for possible situations to implement activities [
9]. Not only in gLiFE did difficulties in action planning occur, as LiFE participants also perceived action planning and habit formation as challenging. In the future, more guidance and direct suggestions from trainers should be offered for action planning if needed.
Participants from both LiFE formats spoke about perceiving positive program effects, like more activity in daily life, and improvements in mobility and function. Perceived effectiveness has been described as one relevant property of acceptability [
12]. Positive outcome experiences were found to increase satisfaction, which increased the likelihood of a sustained exercise routine [
49].
To summarize, we describe the important differences between both intervention formats: in gLiFE, the social aspects of learning the program in a peer group seem to positively influence participants’ affective attitudes towards and motivation to participate in the intervention. Indeed, some LiFE participants wished to take part in the group to benefit from social interactions and new peer contacts after the program ended. On the other side, LiFE participants appreciated the one-to-one training and valued the individual training as an advantage for implementing the LiFE activities into daily routines. In gLiFE, the implementation of activities into daily routines was perceived as more difficult compared to LiFE. Regarding acceptability, individual training may decrease the burden placed on participants: less travelling is needed, sessions can be scheduled flexibly, and the supervision is individual.
Our analysis identified several similarities between both intervention formats: Participants reported a positive overall attitude towards the programs, and specific program features like the selection of activities. The majority perceived the program as having effects on their daily life activity or movement habits and were confident in their ability to keep practicing LiFE (self-efficacy). Overall, this focus group study indicated that both LiFE formats were acceptable to the participants.
Strengths and limitations
Qualitative methods play a valuable role in exploring participants’ experiences of study participation. Their use is increasingly recognized as the best practice in the development [
15] and evaluation [
50] of complex interventions. The conceptual definition of acceptability used in this study offers a clear guidance on what experienced acceptability is and what its components are. Without a strong theory base, acceptability is easily confounded with satisfaction [
12], thus relying on a framework ensures capturing key dimensions of acceptability. The study sample represents the target group of the original LiFE program [
6], is based on clear inclusion criteria from the LiFE-is-LiFE trial (Jansen et al., 2018), and captured varying experiences with the program.
Some limitations need be addressed
. A larger proportion of women (70%) compared to men were included in our sample. However, this reflects both the population of the trial, with a higher participation rate of women (73.5%), and the general population in older age groups (> 80 years old) with a predominant female demographic [
51]. Education level was higher in the focus group sample (53% of participants with German university entrance qualification) compared to the trial (35.7%), as this was not a sampling criterion. We acknowledge that the experiences might have been different for older adults of other background or gender, which could be the focus of future research. Our purposive sampling strategy allowed us to study the groups of older adults most likely to enroll in fall prevention programs like gLiFE or LiFE.
Although free conversation about topics that were relevant to participants was encouraged, the discussion of life experiences or circumstances outside the program that may have influenced the individual’s attitudes towards the programs may have fallen short. As participants lived in the same areas, we could not avoid that some of them were familiar with each other. Overall, participants reported more positive elements about both interventions than negatives. Social desirability, defined as a tendency to reflect reality in a sense that it is consistent with what is perceived as being socially acceptable [
52], is a common problem in qualitative research. During focus group discussions, participants were frequently reminded that all answers are acceptable and open discussion was facilitated. Nevertheless, social desirability could have prompted positive rather than negative answers or created a consensus in the group about exercise behavior or opinions on the program [
53].
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