Author(s)

Nami Kawabata^1,2, Tadayuki Iida^3*, Hideki Miyaguchi⁴, Masafumi Kunishige⁵, Chinami Ishizuki⁴, Hiroko Hashimoto⁶, Yasuhiro Ito⁷, Toshihide Harada³

¹Program in Biological System Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Shobara, Japan.
²Department of Rehabilitation/Occupational Therapist, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hiroshima Cosmopolitan University, Hiroshima, Japan.
³Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Mihara, Japan.
⁴Department of Human Behavior Science of Occupational Therapy, Health Sciences Major, Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
⁵Division of Occupational Therapy, Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
⁶Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Morinomiya University of Medical Sciences, Osaka, Japan.
⁷School of Health Sciences, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan.

Background: Health promotion for the elderly mainly targets improvements in physical function, and a lack of strengthening of subjective well-being as well as the creation of interaction-providing opportunities for activity and participation has been reported. Evaluations of positive and negative aspects for subjective well-being are needed. Elderly subjects were intervened through a 6-month complex-type program combining amusement and exercise and its influences on subjective well-being and physical and physiological functions were investigated. Methods: Subjects in this survey were 37 healthy elderly females living in M city, Hiroshima Prefecture (age: 69.7 ± 5.9 years old), and the survey was performed between September 2016 and March 2017. The complex-type program comprised amusement and exercise programs. The survey was performed at 4 time points during the intervention period: before the intervention and 1, 3, and 6 months during the intervention. Subjective well-being (Japanese version of the Subjective Well-being Inventory (SUBI): Mental health scores, Mental fatigue scores), salivary amylase levels, and the locomotive syndrome risk test (two-step test, stand-up test, and 25-question risk assessment) were surveyed at each time point. Regarding the duration of the intervention as a factor, changes in salivary amylase levels were analyzed using repeated measures one-way ANOVA and SUBI was tested using the Friedman test (EZR Ver 1.32). In addition, the relationship between the locomotive syndrome risk level and duration of the intervention was examined using Fisher’s test. Results: SUBI and the locomotive syndrome risk level significantly differed with time during the intervention. Slight changes were observed in salivary amylase levels during the intervention. Conclusion: The present results suggest that the complex-type program promoted interactions among community-dwelling elderly subjects and positively influenced the maintenance of and improvements in physical and physiological functions. These changes may be associated with favorable influences on the positive and negative aspects of subjective well-being.

Subjective Well-Being, SUBI, The Elderly, Amusement, Exercise

Kawabata, N. , Iida, T. , Miyaguchi, H. , Kunishige, M. , Ishizuki, C. , Hashimoto, H. , Ito, Y. and Harada, T. (2018) Influence of a Program Combining Amusement and Exercise on Subjective Well-Being: Six-Month Intervention Study with a Complex-Type Program for Community-Dwelling Elderly Subjects. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 8, 266-281. doi: 10.4236/ojpm.2018.88023.