Conférence du Pr. Fabio Lucidi : "Health behaviors of older European adults"

Le vendredi 4 novembre, de 10h30 à 11h30 en Salle B15

Professeur Fabio Lucidi, de l'Université Sapienza de Rome
Département de psychologie du développement et des processus de socialisation
Présentation

Previous research with older adults indicates that the relationships between health behaviour and physical and psychological functioning is complex. For example, some older people with fragile health experience relatively high levels of life satisfaction, an important indicator of mental well-being. During the talk will be described the preliminary results of the joint research efforts of a group from six european countries (Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Sweden and Italy)aimedto contribute to the understanding of these relationships. Two studies will be presented. The first one was aimed to identify health and well-being typologies among a sample of older European adults. Further, we examined various demographic, social, and health behaviour characteristics that were used to discriminate between such groups. The participants were 1,381 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and above (M age = 73.65; SD = 7.77) from six European Union (EU) countries who completed self-reported questionnaires. Hierarchical cluster analysis was initially conducted followed by a k means analysis to confirm cluster membership. Four clusters were identified and validated: ‘good health and moderate functioning’ (38.40%), ‘moderate health and functioning’ (30.84%), ‘obese and depressed’ (20.24%) and ‘low health and functioning’ (10.51%). The groups could be discriminated based on age, gender, nationality, years of education, social isolation and health behaviours (alcohol consumption and walking behaviour).It is well known that, in older adults, regular physical activity provides relevant physical and psychological benefits. Identification of the potentially modifiable social cognitive determinants of physical exercise is important to develop effective interventions to increase involvement in physical activity programs, and also to improve maintenance and long-term compliance to such programs. In view of the above, a second study will be presented aimed to predict the amount of physical activity in older European adults trough a combination of personal, psycho-social and environmental variable, according to an ecological framework. This cross-sectional survey included 1177 older community-dwelling adults from urban settings across six different European countries.Their mean age was 73.64; (SD=7,50; age range 60-101). All participants completed a battery of questionnaires selected to assess personal, psycho-social and environmental variables. Preliminary findings are consistent with previous literature indicating that personal and psychosocial variables predict physical activity in older adults and emphasized the role of self-efficacy. Thus, it appears it would be useful if future interventions aimed at promoting physical activity in an older european population focus on strategies designed to enhance self-efficacy.