Influencing factors on physical activity in older people with cognitive impairment : A Descriptive Literature Review

Background: Based on the harm of cognitive impairment to individual health and society, physical activity is a potentially available method to slow cognitive impairment. At present, most older people with cognitive impairment lack physical activity. It is very important to explore the influencing factors of physical activity in older people with cognitive impairment to improve their physical activity level and promote their health.Aim: The aim of the literature review was to describe the influencing factors on physical activity in older people with cognitive impairment.Design: A literature reviewMethods: Systematic searches 1060 articles in the past ten years through Medline via PubMed, 32 potentially usable literatures were obtained after preliminary screening, and 13 literatures meeting the criteria were finally obtained after careful reading.Results: The influencing factors on physical activity in older people with cognitive impairment included individual characteristics experiences, behavior-specific cognitions and affect. Individual characteristics experiences also included personal biological factors, personal psychological factors, personal socio-cultural factors, past related behaviors. (1) Personal biological factors: age, gender, physical fitness. (2) Personal psychological factors: emotion, depression. (3) Personal socio-cultural factors: education, physical environment, economic level. (4) Past related behaviors: smoking, drinking. Behavior-specific cognitions and affect were divided into interpersonal influences, situational influences, perceived benefits of action, perceived barriers of action, perceived self-efficacy, activity-related affect. (1) Interpersonal influence: social relationship, social support, caregiver health. (2) Situational influence: physical environment, unpleasant physical feelings, lack of intrinsic motivation and enthusiasm, lack of physical abilities or discipline. (3) Perceived benefits of action: health benefits, positive embodied experiences of physical activity, intrinsic motivators. (4) Perceived barriers of action: negative embodied experiences during physical activity, fear of injuries or fall. (5) Perceived self-efficacy: strong internal motivation and discipline to exercise, exercise habit. (6) Activity-related affect: acceptable cost of program, plan exercises and tailored activities.Conclusion: This study summarized the influencing factors of physical activity in older people with cognitive impairment in terms of individual characteristics experiences and behavior-specific cognitions and affect, provided inspiration for the future development of intervention measures and implementation of physical activity in older people.