Predictors of dropping out from a home tele-exercise programme: A cohort study derived from a randomised controlled trial

Gustavo Yuki; Luiz Hespanhol; Lisa Mohr; Adelle Kemlall Bhundoo; David Jiménez-Pavón; Bernhard Novak; Stefano Nuccio; Jose Daniel Jiménez García; Julian David Pillay; Lorenzo Rum; Celso Sánchez Ramírez; Lutz Vogt; Jan Wilke

doi:10.34172/hpp.42935

Predictors of dropping out from a home tele-exercise programme: A cohort study derived from a randomised controlled trial

Health Promot Perspect. 2024 Oct 31;14(3):238-247. doi: 10.34172/hpp.42935. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Gustavo Yuki¹, Luiz Hespanhol^{2

3}, Lisa Mohr⁴, Adelle Kemlall Bhundoo⁵, David Jiménez-Pavón^{6

7

8}, Bernhard Novak⁹, Stefano Nuccio¹⁰, Jose Daniel Jiménez García^{6

7}, Julian David Pillay⁵, Lorenzo Rum¹⁰, Celso Sánchez Ramírez¹¹, Lutz Vogt⁴, Jan Wilke^{4

12}

Affiliations

¹ Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo (UNICID), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
² Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo (USP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
³ Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam, Movement Sciences, Amsterdam University Medical Centers (UMC) location VU University Medical Center Amsterdam (VUmc), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Sports Medicine and Exercise Physiology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
⁵ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Durban University of Technology, South Africa.
⁶ ImFine Research Group, Department of Health and Human Performance, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; Exercise is Medicine, Spain.
⁷ MOVE-IT Research Group, Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Education Sciences University of Cádiz, Spain.
⁸ CIBER of Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES), Madrid, Spain.
⁹ Institute of Human Movement Science, Sport and Health, University of Graz, Austria.
¹⁰ Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome "Foro Italico", Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Sciences of Physical Activity, Sports and Health School, University of Santiago of Chile (USACH), Chile.
¹² Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Online home exercises represent opportunities to increase physical activity levels. However, high dropout rates are commonly reported in such programmes. This study aimed to investigate the predictors of dropping out from an online home exercise programme.

Methods: A total of 760 individuals from nine countries participated in this 8-week prospective cohort study derived from a randomised controlled trial. The participants were randomised into "4-week live-streamed exercise ->4-week recorded exercise" or "4-week no intervention ->4-week recorded exercise" group. Repeated measurements using weekly questionnaires were performed. Pain intensity, disability, mental well-being score, exercise motivation, sleep quality, impulsiveness/anxiety, and physical activity level were analysed.

Results: A total of 53.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 50.3%-57.3%) participants dropped out from the programme. The identified predictors of dropping out from the programme were: well-being (odds ratio [OR] 0.94, 95% CI 0.91-0.97) and disability (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.002-1.04) at baseline considering the first 4 weeks; age (0.98; 95% CI 0.96-1.00) and baseline well-being (0.93; 95% CI 0.89-0.97) considering the entire follow-up (8 weeks); exercise motivation (0.92; 95% CI 0.87 to 0.97) and general impulsiveness/anxiety (1.04; 95% CI 1.01-1.07) repeated measured over time.

Conclusion: About half of the participants dropped out from the online home exercise programme. Higher baseline scores in mental well-being and age predicted a reduction in dropping out. Higher baseline disability predicted an increase in dropping out. During the follow-up, higher exercise motivation was associated with a reduction in dropping out, and higher impulsiveness and anxiety were associated with an increase in dropping out.

Keywords: Exercise; Health plan implementation; Implementation science; Social isolation; Telehealth.

Grants and funding

The authors received no direct financial support for this specific study, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Luiz Hespanhol received a Young Investigator Grant from the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grant 2016/09220-1, and a Research Productivity Fellowship (PQ) from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – Brazil (CNPq) – process 310943/2023-0. Gustavo Yuki received a grant from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001. Support from the Biomedical Research Networking Center on Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES) and FEDER funds from the European Union (CB16/10/00477) was provided.