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- Title
Leading the way together: a cluster randomised controlled trial of the 5R Shared Leadership Program in older adult walking groups.
- Authors
Fransen, Katrien; Cruwys, Tegan; Haslam, Catherine; Iserbyt, Peter; Seghers, Jan; Vanderlinden, Julie; van Uffelen, Jannique; Verbaanderd, Elvire; Boen, Filip
- Abstract
Background: With a rapidly ageing society, healthy ageing has become a key challenge. Engagement in physical activity, and particularly walking, is a key strategy that contributes to healthy ageing amongst older adults. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a group walking program for older adults that incorporates the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS). By implementing a structure of shared leadership and strengthening peer leaders' identity leadership, 5RS aims to cultivate a shared social identity amongst participants, which has in other contexts been associated with greater performance and well-being. Methods: A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted to test the efficacy of the 5RS group walking program on group identification, group cohesion, walking activity, and well-being, compared to a regular group walking program for older adults. Nineteen older adult walking groups (i.e., the clusters; N = 503; Mage = 69.23 years, SD = 6.68) all participated in a 12-week structured group walking program. Nine walking groups (n = 304) were randomly assigned to the intervention in which participants received the 5RS program in addition to regular group walking. Results: 5RS was successful in strengthening the identity leadership qualities of the appointed peer leaders. Multilevel regressions showed that 5RS succeeded in increasing group cohesion and walking activity to a greater extent than a regular group walking program, while participants' group identification and well-being increased to a similar extent in both conditions. Furthermore, structural equation modelling revealed that group identification mediated the impact of peer leaders' identity leadership on group cohesion and well-being (but not walking activity). Conclusion: By harnessing the capacity of the group and its peer leaders, the 5RS program offers a promising intervention to engage older adults in physical activity. Trial registration: The study was retrospectively registered as clinical trial on 9 September 2021 (NCT05038423).
- Subjects
WELL-being; STRUCTURAL equation modeling; ACTIVE aging; EVALUATION of human services programs; ATTITUDE (Psychology); LEADERSHIP; MULTIPLE regression analysis; GROUP identity; SOCIAL cohesion; RANDOMIZED controlled trials; WALKING; STATISTICAL sampling; HEALTH promotion; GROUP process; OLD age
- Publication
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 2022, Vol 19, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1479-5868
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/s12966-022-01297-x