Construct an Age-Friendly Health Promotion Program in Rural Community: The Experience of Liu-Ying Township, Taiwan

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to design an age-friendly program for rural communities and to meet the needs of the residents in order to achieve the goals of healthy ageing and active ageing.

Methods: This pilot study used pretest/posttest designed. Two rural communities (Zhongxing community and Taikang community) were selected in Liu-Ying County in the south of Taiwan. The study process was divided into two steps. Firstly, we organized two expert meetings and invited 10 experts including four community leaders, one governor, two public health nurses, two health professionals from the neighbor nursing school, and one program manager to design the health promotion program. Secondly, six health promotion programs were completed in two communities run by Min-Hwei College of Health Care management. In total, 286 residents attended this program and 90 residents were selected as study subjects to compare the health condition before and after intervention. Primary outcome included weight, waist, body softness, bone mineral density, and self-reported satisfaction. The data was collected from July 11, 2013 to October 31, 2013.

Results: The participants were female (70%), age between 65-74 years (61%), and mandarin speaker (71%). The health condition has improved in weight loosed (average 0.2Kg/per person/ three week), and waist loosed (average 1.2 - 2.1 cm/per person). The data of body softness increased (3.6 cm/person) in Taikang community, but Zhongxing community. The body mineral density maintained steady in both communities. More than 90% of participants satisfied the health promotion program. The community leaders and the governor also reported highly satisfaction in age-friendly health promotion program.

Conclusion: Findings from the pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of age-friendly health promotion program intervention in rural community.