Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

School

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

First Supervisor

Dr Joyce Hendricks

Second Supervisor

Professor Robert U Newton

Third Supervisor

Associate Professor Daniel Galvao

Fourth Supervisor

Associate Professor Christine Toye

Fifth Supervisor

Dr Orapitchaya Krairit

Abstract

Dementia is a crucial health problem for older adults throughout many parts of the world and has now become a major issue in Thailand. In Thailand a formal long term care system has not been well established and accessibility to these treatments is limited because of their cost. Caregivers inevitably play a vital role in caring for people with dementia in their own homes. Exercise, a low cost and effect treatment, has been used in high income countries to delay the progression of dementia, however, the effectiveness of this intervention within the Thai context has not yet been examined. This study used a mixed method approach to examine the effect of a home-based exercise program for Thai elderly with dementia. The study had three phases. Phase I, the development of an exercise intervention program; Phase II, a preliminary study; and Phase III, a randomised controlled trial. Phase I was exploratory descriptive qualitative research which examined the cultural issues related to exercise for elderly with dementia. Nine health professionals and ten dyads were interviewed. It was found that in the Thai culture exercise was equated to undertaking activities of daily living and the cultural more that being old meant that older people should rest and not take part in physical activity. This cultural challenge was addressed by the inclusion of an educational session to emphasise the importance and benefits of exercise. Also identified was the need for exercise to be home based and individualised. These findings were incorporated in developing the exercise intervention program used in Phase II and Phase III of the study. In Phase II, the safety, feasibility and appropriateness of a home-based exercise intervention program was established. First, the home-based exercises and physical function tests, including muscle strength and physical function performance battery tests were trialled in Australia and found to be appropriate. At this time inter-raterreliability in the use of measurement tools for conducting tests between the exercise physiologists and the researcher was established until satisfaction was met. Later, in Thailand, a preliminary study using a quasi-experimental pre-and post-test design, was carried out. Ten participants were recruited from the neurological and elderly clinics situated in a tertiary hospital in Bangkok. All participants were tested at baseline and then randomly assigned into a control and intervention group (five participants in each group). The intervention group received a four week home-based exercise program, home visits and an educational package. The results of this phase revealed that satisfactory inter-rater reliability between the researcher and the research assistant was established in Thailand. The developed home-based exercise intervention program and psychological measures were feasible, safe and appropriate to use in the next phase. Only some small adaptations were made. The muscle strength tests with machines were inappropriate in the Thai context and some aspects of physical function performance battery test comprising the 6 metre-backward walk and stair climbs were both unsafe and inappropriate in the Thai context. Therefore, these measures were removed from the next phase of the study. Furthermore, adherence to exercise was low because of caregiver availability and a lack of knowledge regarding exercise; therefore, this issue emphasised the role of educational sessions. A three month period between pre-and post-test was used for the Phase III randomised control trial. The significant results from the preliminary study were used to refine the processes used in the randomised controlled trial. In Phase III, the randomised controlled trial was conducted in Thailand to examine the benefits of the developed home-based exercise intervention program in terms of physical function, psychological health, cognition and quality of life. The results from this phase were reported in two different sections: physical function and other aspects, respectively. Sixty-six out of 84 participants were eligible to take part in this study and were randomly assigned into a control or intervention group (n=32 and n= 34 respectively). The control group received routine care provided by staff and the intervention group received a 12 week, home-based exercise intervention program including an educational session, home visits and telephone calls. Five participants withdrew from the study for health reasons, caregiver availability or concerns, and one participant (who differed because he was not able to afford the medication that all other participants were taking) was excluded before data analysis. Thus, data from 30 participants in each group were analysed using Mulivariate Analysis of Variances and Mann-Whitney U tests to compare between pre-and post-test scores. There were no significant differences between the control and intervention groups at the start of the trial. The muscle strength, physical function performance tests and Activities of Daily Living showed significant differences (p

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