Kirsten Rossiter, Fraser Health regional practice lead for Research and Knowledge Translation in Long-Term Care, received funding to research reducing sedentary behaviour in long-term care.
Replacing sedentary time with short bouts of light physical activity is known to reduce blood pressure, improve strength, boost mobility and increase cognitive function. This is especially important for residents in long-term care, who often have limited mobility.
"Visitors sometimes raise concerns about activity levels in long-term care as they often see their loved ones in bed or watching TV, and there is only so much the recreation staff can do at each site," says Kirsten Rossiter. "Education and awareness about sedentary behaviour is a huge passion of mine, so I wanted to find ways to enable long-term care residents to sit less and move more."
Thanks to a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant, Kirsten, along with Research Assistants Rasha Syed and Ian Fyffe, consulted with 100 residents, families and staff across 24 care communities who comprise the Fraser Health Long-Term Care and Assisted Living Research Partners Group. Their goal? To understand the health research landscape around reducing sedentary behaviour in long-term care.
The research team found that more education was needed for staff, family, visitors and residents on the effects of sedentary behaviour. They developed a short presentation on sedentary behaviour to help staff realize the positive impact of small actions like taking a few extra minutes to walk with residents instead of using wheelchairs. There was also a need to engage visitors to help residents with simple exercises during their visits.
"We discovered that empowering families and visitors to be confident in leading a few exercises while they are with the resident could make a meaningful difference in the residents' health," says Kirsten.
Another key learning was how important the surrounding environment is for promoting movement. Infrastructure barriers like uncovered outdoor spaces, dead-end hallways, ledges and lack of wheelchair ramps make it harder for residents to move independently.
"It's important for us to promote movement without constant staff supervision by making care communities accessible and using interactive technology like projection systems that can simulate activities to help them stay active," says Kirsten. "We plan to share all our infrastructure-related feedback with the new community builds team for long-term care."
A report summarizing the planning grant findings will soon be published, and a larger research study will be developed to start the process of implementing a 'sit less, move more' culture across Fraser Health long-term care communities.