Remotely supervised home-based online chair yoga intervention for older adults with dementia: Feasibility study.
Juyoung Park, Keri J Heilman, Marlysa Sullivan and 6 others
PMID 35738115WHAT IT FOUND
Online chair yoga at home was feasible for older adults with dementia: 7 of 10 who started completed it, with no injuries.
Clinical outcomes did not improve, and emotional loneliness increased, so this does not show benefit.
Key findings
01Seven of the 10 participants who began online chair yoga completed it, attending a mean of 14 of 16 sessions, and no injuries or adverse events occurred.
02Pain interference, mobility, risk of falls, and sleep disturbance did not change significantly, while emotional loneliness increased from baseline to post-intervention.
03Two participants dropped because 60-minute sessions were too long to concentrate for advanced dementia.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Small single-arm pilot with no control group, so changes cannot be compared with usual care or time. Only 10 people started the intervention and 7 completed it, so the results may not be stable. The sample was mainly non-Hispanic White, so the findings may not apply to other racial or ethnic groups. Participants had to walk at least 30 feet and use a computer, so it is unclear whether this works for people who are more physically frail or less digitally connected. Two participants found 60-minute sessions too long for advanced dementia, so session length may be a problem for some patients. Only 4 participants provided complete cardiac data, so the heart-rate findings are exploratory. Recruitment and delivery happened during the pandemic, which may have affected participation, isolation, and caregiver burden.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that online chair yoga improves pain, mobility, sleep, or loneliness in older adults with dementia. The study was a small single-arm pilot with no control group, most clinical outcomes were not significant, and emotional loneliness increased from baseline to post-intervention.