The Effects of Self-Efficacy Enhancement Program of Square-Stepping Exercise among Older Adults with Pre-hypertension on Exercise Health Related Behavior and Blood Pressure Level

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research with two group pretest-posttest design aimed to study effects of self-efficacy enhancement program of square-stepping exercise among older people with pre-hypertension on exercise behavior and blood pressure level. The 60 participants were sampling devided into 30 for experimental group and 30 for control group. The experimental group joined 7 weeks of square-stepping exercise  program based on Bandura’s Self-Efficacy theory.  The 4 strategies were applied in each phase of intervention program, included mastery experience, learning from the role model, verbal persuasion for motivation, and physiological outcomes feedback from blood pressure level change. The instruments for data collection consisted of personal characteristics, exercise behavior questionnaire and blood pressure measurement. Content validity was approved by 5 experts, and  Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of exercise behavior questionnaire = 1.  Data collection period was in June-August 2022. Data were analyzed using descriptive and independent t-test, with a significance level set at .05.

The results showed that after intervention, the experimental group had statistically significant higher mean scores of  exercise behavior and lower blood pressure level than before, and also compared with the comparison group (p < .05). These findings indicate effects of intervention program design that relevance to local context among community-dwelling older people, especially merging Thai folk dance  in SSE procedure. Nurse practitioners and team should recognize and utilized to create hypertension prevention projects for this risk groups.