THE EFFECT OF TRANS-THEORETICAL MODEL BASED-MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING ON PROMOTING EXERCISE BEHAVIOR IN HEALTHY ELDERLY: STUDY PROTOCOL OF A RANDOMIZED-CONTROLLED TRIAL

Abstract

Individualized health promotion activities are needed to bring the disadvantaged groups into healthy lifestyle behaviors. The elderly is both the most inactive and the most affected by inactivity in the community. Primary care nurses can help 65+ individuals to gain exercise behavior by using their educator and guidance roles. The Trans-Theoretical Model (TTM) is an individualized counselling model that evaluates the behavior change as a process. TTM with motivational interviews (MI) is used to promote various health behaviors. This randomized-controlled trial will be conducted to investigate the effect of TTM based-MI on promoting exercise behavior in healthy elderly. The population is constituted of voluntary seniors who meet the inclusion criteria (n=117) from 65-74 aged individuals (N=1630) who registered to a family health center. A power analysis was performed for sample size estimation with .30 effect size and .80 power. The projected sample size was found 90. The participants are divided into stratums, blocking according to the age, gender and exercise behavior stages of change. The seniors from the created stratums is allocated into intervention and control groups randomly. The data will be gathered via a questionnaire, TTM scales, KATZ Activities of Daily Living Scale (KATZ-ADL) and Physical Activity Scale for Elderly (PASE). Waist circumferences will be measured and average weekly step counts will be calculated via a pedometer. The data will be collected via an independent researcher, blinded to the study groups. TTM-based MI for gaining exercise behavior program is planned to apply to the intervention group overall six times (face-to-face for four times biweekly and twice via telephone by four weeks). Intervention period is planned to be six months. The results obtained are expected to guide the community health nurses in terms of gaining the exercise behavior of the older individuals. This study is registered to clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04128553.