The influence of activities on the quality of life of the elderly: A systematic review

Abstract

The scope of this study was to identify which activities or interventions cause changes in the quality of life of the elderly. It involved a systematic review of the literature in the Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Scielo, Lilacs, BDenf and PubMed databases. The key word for the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) used was “quality of life,” in combination with the terms of greatest interest: “elderly, motor activity, education.” The research was conducted between July and August 2015 and included original works published between 2010 and 2015 in English, Portuguese and Spanish. The Cochrane strategy was also adopted for the preparation of the review. Twenty-seven articles were studied that compared the quality of life of the elderly before and after performing a physical, educational or mixed-type intervention. The main result obtained was that the general health, social function, physical role and satisfaction with life are the most influenced domains, whereby group physical activities are practiced the most. The conclusion drawn is that when carrying out activities of any kind, preferably adapted for age, there are changes in the quality of life of the elderly in a general manner, notably with an improvement in functional, mental and social aspects.