鈥 you have recently been in Bratislava and presented research at EHPS 2022. Can you tell us about the conference?
- That鈥檚 right! I attended the international health psychology conference 鈥36th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society鈥, which was held at the end of August. The annual conference is organised by the European Health Psychology Society, which aims to promote research and application of health psychology. This year鈥檚 theme was 鈥淐harting New Territories in Health Psychology鈥.
What was your presentation about?
鈥 I presented an ongoing study on quality of life and physical activity for older people. The study is about getting people aged 65 and older to exercise, and we look at obstacles and possibilities for a physically active life. Among other things, we look at possible differences between online exercise via YouTube compared to group training, and how a change in behaviour can be maintained over time. The participants in our study follow an exercise programme focusing on strength and balance, as well as having a step-counter and an activity calendar where they register their activities. The study runs until December and our second round of checking results has just begun, which will be exciting to analyse.
Why is this important?
鈥 It is about creating a better quality of life for older people, a group that is growing in numbers in our society. Research on physical activity is focused mainly on younger and middle-aged groups. Our hope is to gain more knowledge about older people鈥檚 experiences in this area, what motivates them to do regular physical exercise.
The study is led by Johanna Gustafsson, Finn Nilsson and Linda Beckman, researchers at the Centre for Societal Risk Research (CSR), and in addition to Anna Nilstomt, it also includes Erik W盲stlund, associate professor in psychology at CTF. It is funded by the Kamprad Family Foundation and conducted in collaboration with KBAB and 果冻传媒 Municipality.
