Assessments and feedback may improve physical function in older women
After 12 weeks, older adults given extra assessments and feedback scored 2.078 points higher on a 12-point physical performance test than those exercising without them.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Randomized trial in 54 older adults from senior community centers, 12 weeks, against exercise alone
- What changed:
- Older adults given assessments and feedback scored 2.078 points higher on a physical performance test than those exercising without them
- The catch:
- The assessor knew group assignments, risking biased physical performance assessments
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Fifty-four healthy adults aged 65 or older—53 women and one man—joined a pilot randomized trial at senior community centers in Athens, Greece. All lived independently. Both groups took approximately 50-minute exercise classes twice weekly for 12 weeks, focusing on balance, walking and leg function.
One group also underwent assessments at weeks 3, 6 and 9, each followed by about 20 minutes of personalized verbal feedback. Compared with exercise alone, this approach appeared to produce greater improvements in physical performance, mobility and confidence in balance. Physical performance tests assessed standing balance, walking speed and rising from a chair. The groups did not differ significantly in changes in confidence in their ability to exercise or exercise motivation. No adverse events were reported over the 12 weeks.
Why it matters
For exercise-based rehabilitation in older age, the trial addresses whether monitoring progress and discussing it can add value beyond the exercises themselves.
Caveats
The assessor knew group assignments, and the small pilot had limited power to assess psychological effects; those measures also favored the feedback group at baseline. Participants were almost all independently living women, and exclusions for severe illness or major functional limitations limit applicability to frailer adults.
- Periodic assessment and verbal feedback
- Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale
- Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2
- Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale
- Short Physical Performance Battery
- Humans
The paper
University of West Attica
Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, Jun 25, 2026, Open access
Comments
Be the first to comment.