운동요법을 병행한 사례관리 프로그램이 노인의 건강에 미치는 효과

Effects of Case Management with Exercise Program on Health of Elders

Purpose: The primary goal of this study was to develop a case management with exercise program for community dwelling elders who live alone, and examine the effects of the program. Method: The design of this research was a one group pre-post test study. The participations were 85 elders diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes mellitus and who lived alone as residents of D city. The case management with exercise program included exercise and counseling as the intervention and was provided for 12 weeks. Data were collected before and after the intervention which lasted from September 3 to November 26, 2009. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and paired t-test. Results: There were significant differences in blood pressure (t=-5.24, p<.001, t=-1.94, p= .040), fasting blood sugar (t=-4.41, p<.001), ADL (t=-5.43, p=.022) and cognitive function (t=7.41, p=.008) between pre- and post intervention. Conclusion: These results indicate that the case management program is an important intervention for health promotion for community-dwelling elders, and exercise improves functional status of older persons with diseases. Therefore, now is the time to develop new supportive community-based programs for elders who live alone. However, it is also necessary to do further longitudinal studies to confirm the results of this study.