Helping older adults to stay active

Doctoral student Naureen Meghani and her supervisor Professor Joanne Hudson developed a 12-week intervention for ethnically diverse, hard-to-reach, older adults that encourages individuals to adopt more active lifestyles.

The Swansea University researchers attended a series of NCRM training events and used the skills, knowledge and ideas that they gained in the sessions to help develop the intervention and plan a feasibility study.

The below is a summary of their winning entry to the NCRM 20th Anniversary Impact Prize.

Impact achieved by the research

In her feasibility study, Naureen found that the new intervention helped participants to minimise their sedentary behaviour through the use of wearable activity sensors. The devices gave participants alerts, which prompted them to modify their behaviour when they had been sitting for prolonged periods of time.

NCRM’s training boosted Naureen’s skills in project planning, gave her new knowledge in using technology in research, connected her with a network of other researchers and helped her to analyse and disseminate her findings. Naureen presented her research at several conferences and events, secured funding to provide training for other postgraduate researchers and now aims to replicate and extend the project.

"It is not easy to overstate the impact of my involvement with the NCRM on my research project," Naureen said in her application for the NCRM 20th Anniversary Impact Prize. "But more importantly, this impact has extended beyond my own studies. The development of my research knowledge and skills results in improving my abilities to assist the community and organisation with whose help I enrolled [older adults] in my studies."

How involvement with NCRM made a difference

At the time of Naureen’s involvement with NCRM, she was planning a project that aimed to enhance the physical activity of ethnically diverse older adults. As a key goal of the research was to involve her target audience in the study, Naureen hoped to use activity sensors as a way of ensuring their participation.

However, she had no previous experience of integrating technology into a study. This presented her with both practical and psychological hurdles, prompting her to consider making changes to the project.

"Even before designing the intervention, I was anxious and considered excluding the technology part due to lack of confidence in using activity sensors," she said in her application.

Gaining new insight

Naureen’s perspective on the issue changed when she saw an NCRM talk at the Mobile Apps and Sensors in Surveys workshop. At the event, Professor Kathleen Cagney of the University of Michigan shared her experiences of integrating sensors in research with older adults.

Using insight on areas such as participant recruitment, research protocol and budget, Naureen was able to plan and proceed with her study. She enhanced her knowledge further by listening to an episode of the centre’s Methods podcast, which discussed mixed methods research, and her supervisor Professor Joanne Hudson attended a session at NCRM’s 2023 Research Methods e-Festival.

Naureen learnt about the benefits of strong engagement – building and sustaining a long-term, inclusive, bi-directional connection with an appropriate group before recruitment. Using this knowledge, she completed the preparation for her study – which involved the use of an activity sensor, a health coaching session, a pamphlet and reminder messages – and successfully recruited participants from diverse nationalities.

Another benefit of the NCRM sessions was being connected with other researchers, both expert and novice. This gave Naureen emotional support and put her in touch with others who were also researching the wellbeing of older adults.

"The training sessions profoundly impacted my awareness of the methodological aspects of research with [older adults]," she said.

Applying learning to impactful research

In the study, participants aged between 65 and 90 wore activity sensors while at home. The devices issued alerts, through sound and vibrations, if participants had been sitting for an hour.

Naureen found that this intervention helped her participants to minimize their sedentary behaviour and increase their activity. In their feedback, the older adults expressed that they enjoyed the intervention, indicating it met their needs and helped them to modify their behaviour by encouraging new habits.

"This will certainly improve [older adults’] health, thereby empowering them to maintain a sense of autonomy, independence and participate fully within their community," Naureen said.

To improve her skills in data analysis, Naureen attended the NCRM workshop Statistical Modelling in Stata. This provided helped her to assess her data, validate hypotheses and disseminate findings beyond the academic sphere. The practical and interactive nature of the workshop also enabled her to practise her skills with different datasets and discuss issues with the trainer.

NCRM’s training also contributed to Naureen’s planning for a qualitative study to gain older adults’ perceptions about the intervention.

Sharing knowledge to enhance impact

Naureen presented her mixed-method research in a community social club, spoke to local groups and distributed copies of the pamphlet to various organisations. She also presented at a number of academic events, including the Welsh Sport and Exercise Medicine Conference.

"Through conferences and interacting with varied researchers, my research collaborations have expanded and many research groups working with [older adults] have connected with me," she said. "The impact of NCRM workshops extended beyond the acquisition of useful skills and methodological insights."

In addition to this, Naureen shared reading resources and a practice dataset with postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and secured a small grant to facilitate training on integrating technical aspects in research involving older adults.

Naureen aims to replicate her project with older adults in different parts of the UK. She also intends to extend her collaboration with technical and industry partners to design a smartphone app that can monitor older adults’ activity. She hopes to publish her findings and contribute to UK social care policy.