SIGNIFICANCE AND SUMMARY
The Impact of Physical Inactivity in Long-Term Care Settings during Covid-19: Case Study of Residents in Edmonton General Continuing Care (EGCCC) in Edmonton, Alberta Canada
Significance and Summary of Study
Physical activity strengthens muscles and the entire skeletal system of the human body. Exercise for elderly people is recommended to engage themselves in planned and repetitive physical activity daily to maintain their physical and psychological health. This paper aims at providing significance and summary of the undertaken study for elderly residents in Edmonton General Continuing Care (EGCCC) in Alberta, Canada.
Evidence of Literature That It Is Current, Relevant, and Significant
There is sufficient evidence that the literature is current, relevant, and significant concerning the research topic. Research has corroborated that elderly people have been severely and adversely affected by social distancing policies and changes in lifestyles condition with the advent of Covid-19. Sedentary behavior has negatively affected their body mass index. Most of them already suffer from certain medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart conditions, and respiratory illnesses. Physical inactivity added to their worries (Oliveira et al., 2022).
As physical activity has shown numerous benefits for health, physical inactivity, particularly for older people in residential settings, has been explored to be harmful. The risk factors for their chronic conditions increase and negatively affect their life expectancy (Douma et al., 2017). Current evidence has proven that it still applies to older people living in nursing homes in modern times where activities are limited, creating negative physical...
The
exercises that should be followed include aerobics. Strengths and balance exercises. Even if older people cannot strictly follow this plan, they can engage in other similar routine activities like
cooking,
gardening, shopping, and involvement in self-care to avoid the risk of chronic conditions and their successful management.
Gap in Literature
It has been observed that there were gaps in the...
…recommended for future research that elderly people should be motivated for physical activity regardless that Covid-19 restrictions have been imposed. The boundaries of their long-term facilities should be re-invented for their places to
dance, jog, walk, and aerobics so that value of physical activities should stay alive in their minds. Barriers to physical activity should be deeply probed and also whether it is the willingness of the
elderly population in long-term care facilities that might encourage them to break these barriers or not. Self-identified motivators would be another suitable direction to focus future research on.
Conclusion
The utmost goal of physical activity for elderly people in Covid-19 is to facilitate their physical and mental health. It would contribute to their health and independence even if they cannot go outside. Providing opportunities for enhancing their quality of life (QoL) quotient would help promote physical activity, even in pandemics like Covid-19. Policymakers could support the interventions for nurses and other health professionals for devising enriching activities for this segment of the population.
References
Asghari, E., Archibald, M. &…
