Health Outcomes and Supporting Evidence

Community-dwelling older adults (n= 481) attended Bingocize® group sessions twice per week for 10 weeks. Pre- and post-assessments gauged participants' self-perception of fear of falling, physical activity, social isolation, and avoidance behavior. Following the intervention, paired sample t-tests revealed statistically significant improvements (p <.05) in:

  • Fear of falling, t(364)=3.39, p<.001, ES=.178
  • Physical activity, t(341)=4.63, p<.001, ES=2.50
  • Social isolation, t (303)=2.185, p<.015, ES=.125
  • Avoidance behavior, t(345)=3.4, p<.001,ES=.184

Community-dwelling physically inactive older adults (N=85) participated for approximately one hour, twice per week, for 10 weeks. They played in groups and were randomly assigned to either an experimental (Bingo + Health Education + Exercise; n =47) or control (Bingo + Health Education; n = 38) group.

  • Upper body strength improved for both groups, F (1, 81) =11.40, p<.01, but the improvement was significantly greater for the experimental group (interaction), F (1, 81) =4.78, p=.03.
  • Lower body strength improved for both groups, F (1, 80) =13.38, p<.01, but the improvement was significantly greater for the experimental group, F (1, 81) =4.44, p=.04.
  • As expected, health knowledge on fall risk and osteoarthritis showed a main effect, such that both groups improved their knowledge of the topics, F(1,83)=275.56, p<.001, suggesting the program can be effective for improving health knowledge with or without including the exercise component.
  • Health activation values significantly increased from pre- to post-intervention for both groups, p < 0.05. Attendance was high (>93% in both groups) (Crandall et al.,2019).

Gait performance associated with fall risk was assessed in participants (N=38; Falls et al., 2018). Pre/post gait analysis (at self-selected (SS) and fast walking speeds) was measured using the GAITRite® Electronic Walkway.

  • Significant improvements (group x time) were observed for the experimental group at fast walking speed for ambulation time (AT) (λ = .878, F (1, 36) = 5.01, p = .031, ES = .122); velocity (λ = .886, F (1, 36) = 4.61, p = .039, ES = .114); and step length (λ = .864, F (1, 36) = 5.64, p = .023, ES = .136).
  • Significance at SS speed included AT (λ = .892, F (1, 36) = 4.37, p = .044, ES = .108) single support (λ = .887, F (1, 36) = 4.59, p = .039, ES = .113); and double support time (λ = .886, F (1, 36) = 4.63, p = .038, ES = .114).