Effect of the Physical Activity on the Quality Life of Elder in Indonesia

Abstract

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. It can be seen in many countries have major implications for the general health of people worldwide and for the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. The beneficial effects of physical exercise as regards improving older adults’ QOL in various domains has been confirmed. This study validated the impact physical activity on elders’ quality of life in Indonesian. The investigation was carried out at Surakarta District, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Subject were recruited from senior local group randomly selected. A total of two hundred and eighty two subjects (203 women, 79 men) aged 60–77 years volunteered to participate in this study; are suitably recruited to experiment and control group. Experiment group members received three times a week of physical activity session for five month. The exercise took at least 50 minute per session. Both groups were assessed for dependent variable at the beginning and the end of the intervention period. Dependent variable were quality of life covering four dimensions: physical health, psychological health, social relation, and environment including sub-questions related to different aspects of life such age, sex and marital status. The results showed the experiment group had significant improvement (p<0.05) after intervention in all domain of QOL compared to control group. There were no significant differences in physical health, psychological health, social relationship between experiment and control group. The physical activity program indicated an enhancement in the quality of life.