The Effectiveness of an Exercise Promoting Program for Prediabetic Older Adults in Mueang Loei District, Loei Province

Abstract

The study’s design was a two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experiment. The samples included elderly prediabetic people who had blood sugar levels between 100 and 125 mg/dl and did not exercise. The samples were chosen at random and divided into two groups of 35 each—one was used as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The research instruments consisted of 1) the program for prediabetic older individuals that encourages activity by utilizing Deci and Ryan’s theory. A workshop and a Phi Ta Khon traditional folkdance workout made up the activities. The course lasted for ten weeks; a manual for a fitness program for older people with prediabetes; a smart watch for monitoring heart rate while exercising; a health notebook; and 2) questionnaires on exercise behavior and exercise motivation. The respective Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .96 and .91. Descriptive statistics, the t-test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to evaluate the data.

The outcome demonstrated that the experimental group’s exercise motivation and behavior were statistically superior than both the control group and before entering the program, with a p-value of .05. The experimental group’s body weight and blood sugar levels were lower than they were prior to beginning the program and significantly lower than those of the control group, with a p-value of .05. This program is appropiate for older adult with prediabetes for encourage the exercise motivation and exercise behavior, lose weight, lower blood sugar levels, and reduce the incidence of new diabetes