Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Topic- Motivation
Motivating frail older adults to be physically active by Barbara Resnick, PhD, CRNP, and Marcia G. Ory, PhD, MPH
Aging adults who engage in regular physical activity increase the likelihood they will extend years of active independent life, reduce disability, and improve quality of life in midlife and beyond. Activities can include such things as walking, household or personal care activities, as well as structured exercise classes. Unfortunately, most older adults are inactive. There is, however, greater awareness in North America of the benefits associated with physical activity in later life. This is demonstrated by the many news reports on the topic, the development of age-specific exercise programs, and the growing number of fitness or wellness centers in such settings as retirement communities.
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Holiday Retirement: marketing helps incentive program boost participation
Thinking outside the box. That phrase characterizes the innovative marketing and planning behind an annual exercise incentive program offered by Holiday Retirement Corp., a leading owner and operator of independent-living retirement facilities.
Holiday considers physical fitness critical to keeping its more than 34,000 residents healthy, happy and independent. The Salem, Oregon-based company provides an activity director, as well as exercise classes and age-friendly exercise equipment, at nearly all of its 285 communities. Some properties also feature fitness trails and swimming pools. Despite these services and amenities, Holiday faces that challenge shared by most aging organizations: how to increase physical activity participation by older adults.
Motivation
Keep clients interested in activity
Activity maintains cognitive skills as well as physical function. Can teachers aid cognition while leading an exercise class? Yes they can, say 2 veteran instructors who shared the techniques they use to keep older adults mentally engaged during physical activity.
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Friendly competition motivates exercise
Once a year in May, the wellness directors at multiple Erickson Retirement Communities get together to plan a day that will motivate as many residents as possible to exercise. They calculate the mileage and time to travel among the communities, then challenge residents to "travel" that distance through exercise. This year the total mileage between all campuses was 1,163 miles; it would take 45,520 minutes to travel them. These numbers were the program goal.
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Find the feelings to inspire the reluctant exerciser by Ken Alan
Fitness, for most older individuals, is not a number or a measurement. Fitness is a sensation-it's a feeling. his concept hit like a ton of bricks while videotaping participant testimonials at the annual party for the "No Sweat" exercise class. he evidence was in the testimonials:
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Service excellence for increased retention by Julie McNeney
No matter the size of your organization, each member of your staff has a role to play in providing customer service—no exceptions. Do your staff members know they have this responsibility? what is expected of them? and how your company defines customer service? If not, you may want to take a look at your customer service strategy.
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