Perceived Health Status of the Elderly Practicing Tai Chi
Master of Nursing Science in Adult NursingPrince of Songkla University2547
Thesis Title:
Perceived Health Status of the Elderly Practicing Tai Chi
Author:
Miss Natthachol Arayawithayakul
Major Program:
Adult Nursing
Academic Year:
2002
Abstract
This descriptive study was conducted to investigate the preception on health status in the past and present of the elderly persons who have practiced Tai Chi with eighteen movements. One hundred subjects were selected by simple random sampling without replacement from 400 members at 5 elderly clubs in Songkhla province. The research instrument was a questionaire developed by the researcher. Two parts of the questionaire were demographic data and preceived health status concerning physical, mental, social, spiritual and the overall health status. The perceived health status questionaire has reliability (Cronbach’s alpha =.92) and test-retest reliability r=.98.
The results showed that the elderly persons perceived physical, mental, social, spiritual health statuses and the overall health status in the past and present at good levels. However perceived health statuses at present were significantly higher than those in the past, p<.001, t(99)=4.93, 5.97, 4.50, 6.62, and 6.00 respectively.
The research findings showed that practicing Tai Chi had positive effects on the perception of physical, mental, social, spiritual health statuses and the overall health status of the elderly persons. There fore the practice of Tai Chi is an appropriate exercise for the elderly persons in order to obtain and endure their good health statuses.
