Relationships Between Exercise and Emotion Regulation on Physical Activity in Frail Older Adults

Overview

Frailty in older adults is a consequence of physical inactivity, which leads to poor physical function, disability and poor health outcomes. Nearly 60% of older adults report inactivity. Emotion regulation strategies have affective, cognitive and social consequences. Positive emotions are significantly associated with a higher ability to perform activities of daily living. There is a gap in the understanding of how exercise influences the selection of emotion regulation strategies (avoidant vs. adaptive) in frail older adults. The investigators propose to examine the interactions between regular exercise, selection of emotional regulation strategies, and daily physical activity in frail sedentary older adults.

1. Determine the choice of emotion regulation strategies used by frail sedentary older adults (60+ years; n=24). Frailty will be defined as a gait speed \<0.8 m/sec. Hypothesis: Frail sedentary older adults will choose avoidant emotion regulation strategies. 2. Examine whether a peer-led, community-based, group-exercise program lasting 12-weeks improves the selection of emotion regulation strategies in frail sedentary older adults as compared to those receiving support services (12/group). Hypothesis: Exercise will result in higher use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies than support services. 3. Examine if improved selection of emotional regulation strategies with exercise translates into increased daily physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior by frail older adults as compared to those receiving support services. Hypothesis: Exercise will significantly increase daily physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior than support services. 4. Determine if improvements in emotional regulation strategy selection and daily physical activity levels positively influence health and well-being (i.e. health status, physical function, mood, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sense of loneliness and isolation). Hypothesis: Exercise-induced improvements in emotion regulation and increased daily physical activity will be associated with improved overall health and well-being as compared to support services.