Thai Older People’s Willingness (Intention) to Participate in a Care Prevention, Community Group Exercise Program: An Assessment before Implementing an Intervention Trial in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Background: Sustainability of a current family-based long-term care model in Thailand has been challenged by demographic aging, and the rising burden of non-communicable diseases and age-related morbidities. In order to overcome these challenges, a community-integrated intermediary care (CIIC) service model, including functional training as one of the interventions, was introduced. To increase program uptake and adherence, it is vital to understand the facilitators and barriers for joining this group exercise. Therefore, we aimed to explore the determinants of older adults’ willingness to participate in it. Methods: A total of 1509 participants from an intervention arm of a cluster randomized trial were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. A descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression were applied. Results: More than half of participants (51.4%) were willing to join community-based care prevention, functional training exercise program. Significant associated motivators were being of younger age, female, married, working seniors, original community residents, having (regular and irregular) exercise habits, history of a fall in the last six months, needs for walking aids and secondary caregivers. Conclusion: Our findings highlighted both personal and social factors motivated old people to access health promotion activities. It might help design or implement effective programs to promote healthy aging among community-dwelling seniors in Thailand. This research is analysis of baseline results from a Community Integrated Intermediary Care project. TCTR20190412004.