Staying Physically Active During the COVID-19 Quarantine: Exploring the Feasibility of Live, Online, Group Training Sessions Among Older Adults

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak has led to recurring quarantines, resulting in drastic reductions in physical activity (PA) levels. Given its health benefits, there is a need to explore strategies to increase PA rates during this period. Video-conferencing platforms can be used to deliver live, online, group PA sessions. However, there are only few established PA protocols on how to use such platforms. Hence, the purposes of this study were: 1) to design an online PA protocol and 2) to explore its feasibility among older adults during a quarantine.

Methods: A group of exercise specialists developed a PA protocol while accounting for challenges that may arise when using a video-conferencing platform ("Zoom"). A special focus was placed on safety, individualization, and motivational aspects. Then, 31 community dwelling older adults (71.5±4 years) were recruited via social media to follow this protocol twice a week for eight weeks. Outcome measures included adverse events, adherence rates, and satisfaction with the protocol, its delivery, and technological aspects.

Results: Twenty-eight participants completed the protocol. No adverse events occurred, and adherence rates were high (90%). Most participants (97%) indicated they would participate in such a program in the future and highly rated all aspects of the protocol (median score of 6 in 1-7 Likert scales).

Conclusions: The PA protocol delivered live via a video-conferencing platform was found to be safe and feasible with this cohort. It can therefore be implemented in practice, and in future studies planning to utilize home-based PA sessions for older adults.