Feasibility and acceptability of a home-based virtual group exercise program in global Asian adult population: Baseline characteristics of a cohort study

Abstract

Background: To determine the potential influence of a home-based virtual group exercise on people’s long-term overall health consequences in global Asian population. Methods: We recruited 1021 participants from more than 7 regions across the globe including Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Canada, Europe, and other regions. All the participants attended the virtual group Qigong exercise 60-minute bi-weekly with instructors for 6 months from June 2022 to December 2022. The physical, mental, and social well-being and other variables were measured via online questionnaires. Results: The majority were 51 to 65 (50.6%) years old, female (90.2%), married (68.5%), and came from Taiwan (48.9%). Older adults had higher scores on measures of overall health and exercise adherence, and lower scores on measures of sleep quality and depressive symptoms compared with younger counterparts (P < .05). Most of them (95.3%) acknowledged that the improvement of health status was their motivating factor for exercise. Eighty nine percent of the participants believed that social media played an important role in this exercise program. Conclusion: This study will suggest such approach has great potential to reduce health disparities and can be implemented to underserved population who has limited recourses to join in-person exercise program.