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Delivery of Home-Based Exercise Interventions in Older Adults Facilitated by Amazon Alexa: A 12-week Feasibility Trial

  • Original Research
  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

To evaluate the feasibility of using voice-controlled intelligent personal assistants (VIPAs) to remotely deliver and monitor an individually-tailored, home-based exercise program to older adults living independently and alone.

Design

12-week, prospective single-arm feasibility study.

Setting

Community residences.

Participants

15 adults aged 60 to 89 years living alone.

Intervention

All participants were prescribed home-based muscle strengthening, weight-bearing impact and balance exercises, increasing from two to four 10-minute sessions per day over 12 weeks. Sessions were delivered using VIPAs (Amazon Alexa Echo Show 5; “Alexa”) and a novel software program (“Buddy Link”). The program was individualized by an exercise physiologist based on participant voice responses to Alexa questions.

Measurements

Study outcomes were feasibility (rate of retention, adherence, and adverse events), usability (System Usability Scale) and changes to quality of life (European Quality of Life Scale), and lower-extremity function (30 second sit-to-stand test).

Results

All 15 participants (mean age, 70.3 years) completed the study (retention 100%). Mean adherence to the exercise program was 115% (i.e., collectively all participants were prescribed 8640 exercises but completed 9944 exercises) with no adverse events reported to be related to the intervention and usability scored as above average (75/100). Other outcomes did not significantly change across the 12-week follow-up (all P>0.05).

Conclusions

In this feasibility study of community-dwelling older adults living alone, a home-based exercise program delivered and monitored remotely by an exercise physiologist using VIPAs was safe and feasible.

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Funding

Funding: DS is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) RD Wright Biomedical Career Development Fellowship (GNT1123014) and an NHMRC Investigator Grant (GNT1174886). The study was supported by a Deakin University Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition Seed Grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

    Paul Jansons, J. Dalla Via, R. M. Daly, J. J. Fyfe & D. Scott

  2. Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Paul Jansons & D. Scott

  3. Institute for Nutrition Research, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    J. Dalla Via

  4. Great Australian Pty. Ltd, Keysborough, Victoria, Australia

    E. Gvozdenko

Authors
  1. Paul Jansons
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  2. J. Dalla Via
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  3. R. M. Daly
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  4. J. J. Fyfe
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  5. E. Gvozdenko
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  6. D. Scott
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Contributions

Author Contributions: Study design by PJ, JD, EG RD, JF and DS. PJ drafted the manuscript and conducted the statistical analysis. JD, EG RD, JF, and DS were responsible for manuscript revision and preparation of this review. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Jansons.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of Interest: Eugene Gvozdenko is an director (unpaid position) of Great Australian Pty. Ltd. Great Australian Pty Ltd provided in-kind technical support for software and has non-financial interest in development of a voice-based virtual assistant software for telehealth. Deakin University provided competitive funding to support study.

Ethical standard: This study was approved by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC 2020-166).

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Jansons, P., Dalla Via, J., Daly, R.M. et al. Delivery of Home-Based Exercise Interventions in Older Adults Facilitated by Amazon Alexa: A 12-week Feasibility Trial. J Nutr Health Aging 26, 96–102 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-021-1717-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-021-1717-0

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