Pole Walking Intervention in Retirement Communities

NCT05388227 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 141
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 53
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This patient-oriented, multi-site study aims to co-design and test a pole walking program with resident and staff representatives from participating independent living and retirement communities. The first part of the study (feasibility phase) is a single-group trial designed to answer the main question: Is the pole walking program feasible in these settings? In this phase, all participants will take part in the program. The second part of the study (pilot phase) is a two-group randomized trial that will assess whether the program helps improve physical activity, physical function, body composition, fear of falling, and health-related quality of life, while also reducing sedentary time (time spent sitting or being inactive) in older adults living in independent living and retirement communities. Communities will be randomly assigned to either start the program right away or join a wait-list control group. The program will include supervised group sessions held at the participating communities, 2-3 times per week, for 20-60 minutes each session, over a 12-week period. Sessions will take place outdoors when possible, or indoors if the weather is not suitable. After follow-up assessments are complete, participants in the control group will also be offered the pole walking program at their communities.

Conditions

Fall Injury; Osteoporotic Fractures

Keywords

Patient-oriented; Exercise Intervention; Feasibility; Pilot

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (10)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - consent rate

  Assessed by calculating consent rate (%) as the percentage of participants assessed for eligibility who consented.

  After the completion of the study's feasibility phase (1 year)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - recruitment rate

  Assessed by calculating recruitment rate (participant/site/month) as the number of potentially eligible participants who consented divided by the number of recruiting sites and then divided by the number of months spent on recruitment.

  After the completion of the study's feasibility phase (1 year)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - retention rate

  Assessed by calculating retention rate (%) as the percentage of eligible participants enrolled in the study who received the allocated intervention and completed both baseline and follow-up assessments.

  After the completion of the study's feasibility phase (1 year)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - attendance rate

  Assessed by calculating attendance rate (%) as the percentage of available intervention sessions attended by each participant.

  After the completion of the study's feasibility phase (1 year)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - intervention acceptability score

  Assessed by calculating intervention acceptability score (ranging from 1-5, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability of an intervention ) using the 4-item intervention acceptability measure.

  Follow-up assessment sessions (after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility phase)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - intervention appropriateness score

  Assessed by calculating intervention appropriateness score (ranging from 1-5, with higher scores indicating greater appropriateness of an intervention ) using the 4-item intervention appropriateness measure.

  Follow-up assessment sessions (after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility phase)

• Feasibility of pole walking intervention - intervention feasibility score

  Assessed by calculating intervention feasibility score (ranging from 1-5, with higher scores indicating greater feasibility of an intervention ) using the 4-item intervention feasibility measure.

  Follow-up assessment sessions (after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility phase)

• Physical function - functional balance/mobility

  Assessed by the timed "up \& go" test.

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

• Physical function - lower-body strength

  Assessed by the 30-s chair stand test.

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

• Health-related quality of life

  Assessed by the 36-item short form survey, which provides a score ranging from 0-100 for each of its 8 scales (the higher the scale scores, the more favorable the corresponding health states).

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Safety of pole walking intervention

  Follow-up assessment sessions (after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility phase)

• Physical function - functional capacity

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

• Physical function - upper-body strength

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

• Physical activity/sedentary time

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

• Fear of falling

  Baseline and follow-up assessment sessions (before and after the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

Other Outcomes (2)

• Body composition - areal bone mineral density at the hip

  Baseline assessment sessions (before the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

• Body composition - areal bone mineral density at the lumbar spine

  Baseline assessment sessions (before the 12-week intervention of the study's feasibility and pilot phases)

Study Arms (2)

Pole walking intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Will participate in supervised, group pole walking intervention sessions held at the participating communities, 2-3 times per week, for 20-60 minutes per session, over a 12-week period.

Other: Pole walking

Wait-list control

NO INTERVENTION

Will continue life as usual during the 12-week period. However, after completing follow-up assessments, will also be offered the pole walking intervention at their communities.

Interventions

Pole walking OTHER

The intervention will consist of group sessions held at the participating communities, 2-3 times per week, for 20-60 minutes per session, over a 12-week period. Pole walking exercises are tailored for participants and progressive in nature. Sessions will be led by trained peer, staff, or student instructors and conducted outdoors (indoors if weather conditions do not permit).

Pole walking intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Being an ambulatory resident in the independent living/retirement communities.
• Pass the Get Active Questionnaire. If the participant has heart conditions, angina during daily living, balance, and bone or joint problems, then a Physician Clearance Form is required to be filled out and signed by the participant's family physician.

You may not qualify if:

• Using assistive devices for mobility.
• Being active (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ≥150 min/week).
• Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Saskatchewan: lead
• Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation: collaborator
• Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Saija Kontulainen, University of Saskatchewan

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 1G9, Canada

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Osteoporotic Fractures

Interventions

Nordic Walking

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Fractures, Bone; Wounds and Injuries

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Walking; Locomotion; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Exercise; Motor Activity

Study Officials

• Saija A Kontulainen, PhD

  Professor, College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: The feasibility phase of this study is a single-group trial with a primary purpose of assessing the feasibility of implementing a pole walking intervention within independent living/retirement communities. The pilot phase of this study is a two-arm, parallel-group, cluster-randomized, wait-list controlled trial with a primary purpose of assessing the efficacy of the pole walking intervention in improving physical activity, physical function, body composition, fear of falling, and health-related quality of life, and decreasing sedentary time in older adults living in independent living/retirement communities. In this phase, we anticipate enrolling 50 participants from residents of independent living/retirement communities. Communities will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or a wait-list control group.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 18, 2022
• First Posted: May 24, 2022
• Study Start: June 28, 2022
• Primary Completion: September 22, 2025
• Study Completion: September 22, 2025
• Last Updated: April 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)