Feasibility of Health and Fitness Data Collection in Online Behavioral Intervention of Elderly

The global increase in life expectancy has led to a growing elderly population, which necessitates novel strategies to promote healthy ageing and maintain optimal quality of life. Lifestyle coaching has emerged as a promising intervention to address these challenges by offering tailored guidance and support for seniors to make sustainable lifestyle changes. This study investigates the feasibility of collecting health and fitness data reported by the elderly population participating in an online behavioural intervention. We recruited 60 community-dwelling elderly individuals between the ages of 55-80 (including both men and women) for a 14-week online intervention promoting healthy lifestyles using coaching principles. The main criteria for inclusion were a diagnosis of arterial hypertension with or without medication and/or overweight or obesity as defined by BMI. We collected health-related data (arterial blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, quality of life using EQ-5D-5L questionnaire) and fitness-related data (30-second chair test, 2-minute step test). All data were self-recorded by the participants and reported via an online system with the help of a health coach. Forty-seven participants were able to complete the entire 14-week intervention. The initial data set resulted in only 51% (24 out of 47) of the participants having reported the full dataset. We then used written and spoken reminders to notify participants to submit the collected data, which brought the percentage up to 70% (33 out of 47). The main obstacle in health and fitness-related data collection was the forgetfulness of participants to do the self-reported measurements and tests. Among other factors affecting the amount of collected data, we experienced a lack of understanding of the process of the fitness tests, as well as a low questionnaire completion ratio. Almost 80% of participants managed to report all of the health-related data which was also considered the least complicated to collect. KEY MESSAGES: • Elderly people with higher cardiovascular risk are able to self-report health and fitness data in online behavioral intervention but thorough guidance and reminders need to be applied. • Elderly people are willing to participate on the online lifestyle behavioural interventions.