Evaluation of a football fitness implementation initiative for an older adult population in a small-scale island society

Abstract

Background: The proportion of older people increases globally, which calls for sustainable interventions promoting healthy aging. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the potential of Football Fitness as a sustainable model to promote quality of life, mental health, and physical function for older adult. Methods: The study was conducted in collaboration with a municipality, a football club, and a university, and was designed as a randomized controlled trial. A total of 66 people (34 women, 32 men) older than 60 years were randomly assigned (60/40) to a Football Fitness (FOT) (n = 38, 20 women, 18 men) and a control group (CON) (n = 28, 14 women, 14 men). FOT participated in Football Fitness for 12 weeks. Quality of life (QoL) and mental wellbeing were determined pre-and post-intervention. Physical loading and Flow experience were measured in one representative training session. Blood pressure (BP), Yo–Yo Intermittent endurance test level 1 (Yo–Yo IE1), sprint performance, postural balance, and body composition were also performed pre-and post-intervention. Results: An improvement in mental wellbeing was observed for both groups from pre- to post-intervention (p values <0.001) with no between-group differences. Regarding QoL, the environment domain improved in FOT compared to CON (p = 0.02). Mean Flow (M = 5.69; SD = 1.07) and perceived importance (M = 4.20; SD = 1.42) and average experienced difficulty was M = 5.23 (SD = 2.67), perceived skill (M = 5.23; SD = 2.56), and perceived balance (M = 5.64; SD = 1.56). These levels of flow can be characterized as being high. A between-group effect (p = 0.02) existed for systolic BP, which decreased (p < 0.01) by −5% [−8; −1%] in CON and remained unchanged in FOT. Both groups improved the Yo–Yo IE1 to a similar extent, with 28% [11; 44%] (p = 0.001) in FOT and 27% [9; 46%] in CON (p = 0.005). Postural balance improved (p = 0.004) by 38% [13; 63%] in FOT only, resulting in a superior (p = 0.01) balance score in FOT compared to CON post-intervention (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Football Fitness improved the environmental quality of life domain and postural balance in older adults. Additionally, it appears to be a feasible group activity for older adults that promotes high flow and physical loading during training.