Perspectives, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and barriers to aerobic exercise reported by individuals with chronic stroke in a developing country

Experiencing Cerebrovascular Diseases like Stroke and Fear of Falling: Longitudinal Results from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the link between experiencing cerebrovascular diseases (strokes as an explicit example) and fear of falling (FOF) among middle-aged and older adults in Europe. Methods: Longitudinal data were used from wave 5 to wave 7 of the representative Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Self-reported tools were used to quantify the key variables. Fear of falling was similarly assessed using a dichotomous yes or no question, "For the past six months at least, have you been bothered by any of the health conditions on this card", with fear of falling being one of the options. It was adjusted for various sociodemographic and health-related factors. In particular, to account for unobserved heterogeneity, conditional fixed effect regressions (FE) were used. Accordingly, change in an individual's FOF status over the included waves was analysed and correlated with the reported change of all the included time-varying independent variables within the same individual, including experiencing stroke or other cerebrovascular diseases. The final analytical sample equalled n = 22.071 observations. Results: Conditional logistic FE regressions showed that the onset of a stroke or other forms of cerebrovascular disease was not associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing fear of falling (OR = 1.25, p = 0.095). However, stratified by sex, such an association was present in men (OR = 1.79, p = 0.006), though not in women (OR = 0.94, p = 0.732). Conclusions: The onset of a stroke or other cerebrovascular diseases was associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing FOF in men but not women. Efforts are required to assist older men in avoiding FOF after the onset of stroke or other cerebrovascular pathologies.

Barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke: development and content validity of a new instrument

PURPOSE

To develop a new instrument to identify barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke and test its content validity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The sample consisted of individuals with stroke and neurological rehabilitation professionals. The study consisted of two steps: (1) Instrument development, involving three processes; a data search in the literature, interviews with the target population and an open questionnaire (online) sent to professionals; and (2) Testing the content validity of the instrument by asking individuals with stroke and professionals about the comprehensiveness and relevance of the items and additionally asking individuals with stroke about the comprehensibility of the items. For each item in the instrument, the threshold validity scores were ≥0.80 in the Content Validity Index and ≥0.75 for the Kappa agreement.

RESULTS

The preliminary version was developed with 46 items. The content validation was performed in three rounds. The last version of the instrument Barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke (BASH-TOP-Stroke) contained 34 items in five response categories, in which the higher the value presented, the greater the number of barriers. The content validity for the items was excellent.

CONCLUSIONS

The study provides a new instrument to help identify barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke.

Pulmonary functions and anthropometric parameters of young male and female adults participating in moderate aerobic exercise

Respiratory disorders may be one of the adverse effects of sedentary lifestyle. This study investigated respiratory functions (FEV1, FVC and PEFR) and anthropometric parameters (body weight and body mass index) of healthy young males and females participating in moderate aerobic exercise. Forty young healthy untrained non-athletes, twenty males and twenty females (age, 25 ± 5.6 years; body weight, 65 ± 4.0 kg; body height, 176.9 ± 2.5 cm) volunteered to participate in this study. The exercise regimen was of moderate intensity lasting for 20 min daily on a treadmill consistently at the speed of 13 km/h for 14 days. The weight and height of participants were measured using medical scale and wall-mounted stadiometer respectively. The forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) were assessed using digital spirometer. The results showed a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in body weight and body mass index of female participants after 14 days of exercise regimen. The FEV1, FVC and PEFR were significantly increased (p < 0.05) in both male and female subjects after exercise. The Pearson correlation showed a significant (p < 0.05) positive correlation between BMI with FEVI/FVC% in female participants. There was an increase in calories burnt from day 4 of the study in both male and female participants. It is concluded that moderate aerobic exercise improved respiratory functions (FEV1, FVC and PEFR) in both male and female subjects with greater improvement in females while reducing body weight and body mass index in females.

Translation and psychometric testing of the simplified version of the health-related diet and exercise self-efficacy scale in China

Background

Measuring health-related diet and exercise self-efficacy is an important first step in improving healthy behaviors and health outcomes. However, we did not find a self-efficacy measurement in Chinese that is specifically targeted at diet and exercise self-efficacy among healthy adults.

Aim

The present study aimed to translate the Health-Related Diet and Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale -simplified version into Mandarin Chinese (HRDESES) and evaluate its reliability and validity in Chinese healthy adults.

Methods

The HRDESES was translated and adapted to the Chinese context, with a good content validity of 0.86 among seven experts. The survey was then carried out in 216 adults in Hunan, China. Testing of the reliability included internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability, while validity included content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity.

Results

The Cronbach's α of the HRDESES was 0.87 for the total scale, 0.86 for the diet subscale and 0.91 for the exercise subscale; the McDonald's ω of the HRDESES-SC was 0.85 for the total scale, 0.86 for the diet subscale and 0.91 for the exercise subscale, all demonstrating good internal consistency. The test-retest reliability was 0.88 for the total scale, 0.81 for the diet subscale and 0.82 for the exercise subscale, demonstrating good test-retest reliability. For construct validity, the scale effectively distinguished subjects by age, gender, education, occupation, marital status, and family income, showing good discriminant validity. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a two-factor structure of the scale: diet and exercise subscale. It was demonstrated that the HRDESES was highly associated with the General Self-Efficacy Scale and its two subscales, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.83 to 0.86 (p < 0.05), showing high criterion validity.

Conclusion

The HRDESES had good reliability and validity and could be used as a simple and effective tool for assessing the health-related diet and exercise self-efficacy in Chinese healthy adults.

Comparative Study on the Effect of Various Aerobic Exercises on College Students' Weight Loss Based on Deep Learning Analysis

In order to solve the problem of higher obesity rate of college students and meet the needs of college students to lose weight effectively, a comparative study on the effect of various aerobic exercises on college students' weight loss based on in-depth learning analysis is proposed. The experiment shows that 30 subjects who voluntarily participated in the weight loss experiment and research were selected from a university, including 16 men and 14 women. It shows that aerobic exercise plays an important role in improving people's energy metabolism. Based on the deep unsupervised learning algorithm, this paper studies the effect of a variety of aerobic exercises on college students' weight loss. It is found that visceral fat obese people are easier to lose weight than outer skin fat obese people. With the help of aerobic exercise to lose weight, we should choose the aerobic exercise items significantly increased in EPOC during exercise recovery according to the obesity characteristics and types of different college students so that the effect of exercise weight loss is more effective.

Association of Barriers, Fear of Falling and Fatigue with Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Chronic Stroke

Understanding the fostering factors of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) in post-stroke chronic survivors is critical to address preventive and health interventions. This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the association of barriers to PA, fear of falling and severity of fatigue encountered by stroke chronic survivors with device-measured PA and SB. Ambulatory community-dwelling post-stroke subjects (≥six months from stroke onset) were evaluated and answered the Barriers to Physical Activity after Stroke Scale (BAPAS), Short Falls Efficacy Scale-International (Short FES-I) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). SB and PA were measured with an Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer for ≥seven consecutive days. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with PA and SB. Fifty-seven participants (58.2 ± 11.1 years, 37 men) met the accelerometer wear–time criteria (three days, ≥eight h/day). The physical BAPAS score explained 28.7% of the variance of the prolonged sedentary time (β = 0.547; p < 0.001). Additionally, the walking speed (β = 0.452) together with physical BAPAS (β = −0.319) explained 37.9% of the moderate-to-vigorous PA time (p < 0.001). In chronic post-stroke survivors, not only the walking speed but, also, the perceived physical barriers to PA are accounted for the SB and PA. Interventions to reverse SB and to involve subjects post-stroke in higher levels of PA should consider these factors.