ABSTRACT
Background: The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has left a wide range of after-effects on the health of older adults. The effects of the pandemic have been particularly felt in the areas of physical strength, fatigue, and functional performance. Material(s) and Method(s): Fifty-four participants were allocated into three groups: Tai Chi (TC) attended 4 sessions of 60-min TC training per week for consecutive 12 weeks, Aerobic Training (AT) attended 4 sessions of 60-min aerobic training per week for 12 weeks, and Control (CON) instructed to maintain a daily routine. Hand grip strength (HGS) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) were used to evaluate the participants. Functional performance outcomes were determined The functional performance outcome was determined by The 30-second Chair Stand Test (CST), The 30-second Arm Curl Test (ACT), The 8-feet Up-and-Go test (TUG), and The 2 min steps. Pre-post comparisons of all outcomes in each group and comparisons between groups were analyzed using the ANOVA test with SPSS software. Result(s): After the intervention, TC and AT groups both experienced significant improvements in HGS, fatigue levels, CST, ACT, TUG, and 2-minute steps compared to baseline (all P < 0.001). The Tai Chi group also experienced significantly improved hand grip strength (p =0.0435, mean difference of-2.5), and ACT (p =0.0235, mean difference of 1) compared to the AT group. Conclusion(s): Tai Chi is an integrated rehabilitation program that had a positive effect on hand grip strength, fatigue levels, and functional performance compared to aerobic training in the elderly post-COVID-19.Copyright © 2023, Codon Publications. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
When crises occur, the society plays significant roles, such as assisting victims, helping vulnerable groups, sharing information, allocating resources etc. However, for the response to crises to succeed, society, authorities and emergency services should align their efforts and needs in a coordinated way. To identify this alignment, we designed an internet-based survey asking authorities, emergency services, and volunteer organizations about the needs and expectations they have from the society to better handle crises. The questionnaire is divided into two main sections: the first section covers the responders’ risk awareness, and the second gathers the needs they have from society in the following items: social norms and sense of communality, coping skills, resources to face a crisis, perception of trust, perception of responsibility, crisis knowledge, crisis communication, communication channels, information sharing and preparedness. The survey was launched in 7 European countries and this paper presents the results collected in Spain. The answers show that in general there is a high consensus in the analysed items, though the distribution shows that authorities differ the most from the other responder profile groups. The results show that the responders are more aware of pandemics followed by extreme weather related events. We think this is because of the huge impact that is creating the current coronavirus pandemic. © ESREL 2021. Published by Research Publishing, Singapore.