Background

Patients in geriatric rehabilitation are mostly affected by several diseases and limitations. Up to now, individual physical training is carried out within the framework of the rehabilitation stay to strengthen the musculature and to improve independence in everyday activities. Nutritional therapy is provided for persons in need or at risk of malnutrition. However, in many cases the physiotherapy and the implementation of nutritional therapy are not sufficient to lead to long-term improvements in nutritional and physical activity behaviour. Reasons for this include the lack of follow-up care or compliance of the patients to maintain the newly learned behavioural patterns.

Method

The nutritional status and physical functionality of senior citizens should be effectively supported and promoted by a technical assistance system with adequate, age-appropriate feedback.

Three sub-projects will be carried out in order to do this. In the first step, it will be evaluated which contents in the areas of nutrition and exercise are relevant for patients in geriatric rehabilitation and which barriers exist to the use of the e-coach. The identified content will be developed using current scientific evidence and programmed as an Android app. In the second step, the usability of the developed e-coach application will be tested with the target group in the rehabilitation and optimised step by step (iteratively). The participants complete different navigation tasks, answer questions on the comprehension of the developed content and give feedback on design aspects. In the last step, the applicability of the e-coach in daily life is examined. The participants (≥70 years) use the programme during and after rehabilitation for a total of nine weeks and are regularly supported in its use by members of the study team (physiotherapist and nutrition therapist). Health-related nutrition and physical activity parameters, changes in nutrition and physical activity behaviour as well as data on use and the perceived usability of the app are collected.

The NuMob-e project is funded between 05/2019 to 05/2022 within the research pool of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Oldenburg.