Physical activity in nursing homes: Facilitators, needs and barriers

As the population in the world is getting older, there is a rise in older adults living with cognitive impairments. This causes challenges within the healthcare services as almost 50% of those with cognitive impairments will need help at a nursing home. Despite this, the capacity in nursing homes has been reduced, leading to a nursing home population with higher age, a more complex array of symptoms, and in need of more comprehensive support. In Norway, almost 92% of nursing home residents have a cognitive impairment which is characterized by pronounced symptoms that affect daily activity, physical function, cognition, and behavior. Presently, there are few economical and personal resources used on maintenance of physical activity among nursing home residents . This is partly due to lack of space, lack of knowledge about maintenance of physical function and activity among employees, and the decreased physical function among the residents. It is desirable to achieve increased everyday physical activity through implementation of goal-oriented physical activity that do not require excessive time usage for the employees. Furthermore, the activity should seek to include a purpose for the residents, such as simple everyday chores like setting the table and folding towels. Previous studies have demonstrated that nursing home residents manage to participate in regular activity over a longer period of time and that despite their condition, most residents are able to understand instructions and are motivated to participate in different activities. There are, however, major challenges in facilitating the maintenance of physical activity interventions over a longer period in nursing homes, and we need more knowledge on how to best implement activity in the nursing home service. The aim of this study is therefore to examine how employees at nursing homes in Trondheim municipality experience facilitators, needs, and barriers of physical activity among nursing home residents.