Self-Perceived Health and Sleep Quality of Community Older Adults after Acupunch Exercises

Objectives: To test the long-term effects of the 12-month Healthy Beat Acupunch (HBA) exercise program on the self-perceived health and sleep quality of older adults in community care centers, and to compare the effects of two delivery methods: instructor-led HBA for the first 6 months and DVD-guided HBA for another 6 months.

Design: Cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Eight community care centers.

Participants: In total, 232 participants were recruited from eight community care centers, and cluster-randomized to the experimental (4 centers, N = 113) and control (4 centers, N = 119) groups.

Intervention: The experimental group received the instructor-led HBA program 3 times weekly for the first 6 months, followed by the DVD-guided HBA program for another 6 months.

Measurements: Self-perceived health and sleep quality were assessed using the Short Form Health Survey and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively, at baseline and every 3 months for 1 year.

Results: The experimental group reported more favorable self-perceived physical and mental health, higher subjective sleep quality, and less daytime dysfunction than did the control group. Effect sizes of physical health and sleep quality increased from the instructor-led stage to the DVD-guided stage; the effect size of physical health showed the most significant change, increasing from 0.38 in the instructor-led stage to 0.55 in the DVD-guided stage.

Conclusions: The exercise program consisting of the instructor-led class, followed by the DVD-guided class, was an effective and feasible longitudinal program for older adults in community care centers.