Internet-based physical activity promotion: Are older adults ready for this?

Despite the numerous health benefits, population physical activity (PA) levels are low and decline with age. In Belgium, people older than 60 years will represent more than a third of the entire population in 2050, with some major implications in terms of public health cost. Faced with this issue, innovative interventions to promote PA in older adults are of major interest. The Internet holds potential for delivering effective PA interventions. Besides, older adults are the largest-growing group of Internet users. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to explore the opinion of older adults about Internet-based PA promotion. First, 75 older adults (73.75 ± 5.77 years) fulfilled a questionnaire about their PA stage of change, motivation about PA and opinion about several elements that could be included in an Internet-based PA website. Then, they were asked to participate in an unique session of “home exercising”. Finally, in a subsequent interview, they had to give their opinion about the inclusion of this kind of session in an Internet-based PA website.
Only 48% of the participants met the official guidelines for PA. A regular access to the Internet was observed for 57.3% of the participants, with a significantly higher access for the younger ones (p = .014). Based on a 4-point Likert scale, the most popular topics for an Internet-based intervention were “PA social forum” (3.3/4), “PA local opportunities” (3.2/4), “PA local agenda” (3.1/4), “Benefits of PA” (3.1/4) and “PA programs” (3.1/4). According to the participants, the inclusion of “home exercising” in an internet-based PA website would be appreciated (7.85/10), adapted (8.78/10) and likely to be self-implemented at home (6.96/10). Findings suggest that an internet-based PA promotion may be acceptable for older people. Social and neighborhood environment elements appear to be essential in order to support the motivation for a regular PA practice.