Effectiveness of Interventions for Reducing Sedentary Behaviour in Older Adults Living in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Protocol for a Systematic Review

Background. Sedentary behaviour (SB) is an important risk factor for several health-related outcomes. The prevalence of SB is alarmingly high in older adults, who spend on average 9.4 h being sedentary each day, making them the most sedentary of all age groups. Objectives. The primary objective of this review is to assess the impact of interventions aimed at reducing SB in older adults (aged 60 years and older) living in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). The research question for this systematic review is as follows: in older people living in LTCFs, do interventions aimed at reducing SB, compared to usual care, result in a decrease in SB daily time or a reduction in the length of prolonged and uninterrupted sitting bouts? Data sources. Only peer-reviewed articles will be included in this systematic review, articles will be identified using the PICO method in seven different databases. Participants and interventions. Any primary intervention study (including randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, and cohort studies) with the aim to reduce SB daily time or shorten the length of prolonged and uninterrupted sitting bouts in older adults living in LTCFs will be included. After searching databases, abstracts of the studies will be screened, and, after retrieving full text articles, data extraction will be conducted by two independent reviewers. Study appraisal and synthesis methods. The review will adhere to PRISMA reporting guidelines. Risk of bias (RoB) will be assessed using ROBINS-I or the RoB 2.0 tool and will be discussed with a third reviewer. The data will be grouped according to study design, with separate analysis for randomised and non-randomised designs. Results. The primary outcomes will be SB or time spent sedentary, assessed before and after the intervention. For the outcomes with the same measurement units, the pooled mean differences will be calculated. Standardised mean differences will be calculated for the outcomes with different measurement units. The data not suitable in numbers will be synthesised narratively. The strength of evidence of the outcomes will be assessed using GRADE assessment. If the data are suitable for quantitative analysis, we plan to use the Revman software to conduct a meta-analysis. Conclusions and implications of key findings. This protocol can serve as a valuable resource for other researchers interested in conducting similar systematic reviews or meta-analyses in the field of SB and older adult health.