Community-Based Multicomponent Exercise and Recreational Programme for Older Adults

This quasi-experimental, non-randomized controlled evaluation examined whether participation in ELDERPLAY, a community-based programme combining Vivifrail-based multicomponent exercise with adapted traditional games, was associated with changes in physical performance and frailty-related function in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and older, and estimated the cost of delivering the programme. Participants were allocated to the intervention group or to a concurrent control group through voluntary enrolment and geographic matching, without randomization. The intervention consisted of 20 supervised group sessions, two per week over ten weeks. Physical performance was assessed with the Short Physical Performance Battery and the Timed Up and Go test at baseline, at week 5 and at week 10. Secondary exploratory outcomes included actigraphy-derived daily step count, heart rate and sleep parameters, recorded over seven consecutive days at a single intermediate assessment point, and sleep quality assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Programme delivery costs were estimated from the perspective of the programme provider using an activity-based costing approach. Because allocation was not randomized and the groups differed at baseline, the findings are associative and do not support causal inference.

Inclusion Criteria: * Individuals aged 65 years or older, of both sexes. * Absence of cognitive deterioration or mild cognitive deterioration, as measured through the Pfeiffer Questionnaire (Pfeiffer score \> 7 points). * Conserved mobility: absence of incapacitating illnesses that impeded walking with or without support devices, such as a cane. The use of a walking aid such as a cane was not in itself an exclusion criterion; participants who walked with a cane were eligible. Exclusion Criteria: * Institutionalization in a nursing home. * Regular participation in structured physical exercise outside the study programme (i.e., attending supervised exercise sessions more than twice a week).