Exercise behaviors of elderly people in Maetor subdistrict, Maueng district, Tak province

Abstract

This descriptive research aimed to study exercise behaviors of elderly people in Maetor subdistrict, Maueng district, Tak province. Population was 1,220 elderly people and the sample size calculating used Daniel formula for 300 cases. Data were collected by questionnaires composed of 6 parts; personal characteristics, knowledge, attitude, enabling factors, reinforcing factors, and exercise behaviors. Try out testing reliability by Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was 0.704, and statistic analyzed used Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The result showed that knowledge was low level 42.33%. Attitude was high level 90.67%. Enabling factors were high level 94.33%. Reinforcing factors were high level 95.00%. Exercise behaviors were medium level 63.67%. Association analyzed found that predisposing factors both knowledge and attitude were positively associated with exercise behaviors with significance at 0.05 (r = 0.143, p-value=0.013 and r = 0.133, p-value=0.021, respectively). Enabling factors was not associated with exercise behaviors (r = -0.041, p-value=0.477). And reinforcing factors was not associated with exercise behaviors (r = 0.001, p-value=0.982). The suggestions are officers should educate elderly people with precise knowledge and encourage them to realize an importance of exercise. Elderly people should easily access information and resources, and should be encouraged to do exercise by surrounding people.