Journal des soins infirmiers et des soins

Short-Term Effectiveness of a Swallowing Exercise for the Elderly Using Day-Care Services

Abstract

Yumi Chiba

Purpose: The research purpose was to investigate the short-term effectiveness of exercise intervention to improve pharyngeal functions in the elderly using day- care services.

Methods: Subjects were totally 84 elderly people. The participants were analyzed at 2 points: baseline and 2 weeks after the starting date of the study. This exercise comprised pronunciation practice, a pushing exercise with crying out in a loud voice, and a falsetto exercise. A questionnaire of ingestion and deglutition functions was also answered at 2 points. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS J16.0. The intervention duration of this study was from February 2 to March 4, 2008.

Results: The average participant age was 82.4 ± 8.6 years. Comparing the evaluative items of the swallowing functions at 2 points, significant differences were observed in the movement of the upper and lower sides of the tongue, optional cough, consecutive pronunciation [ta], hoarseness, and the RSST test. The total frequency of participation in this programmed exercise was significantly related to lip and tongue movement, pronunciation [ka], and utterance time. A positive change of feeling was observed in the score of the 2 items.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed very useful hypothetical information about intervention to arouse pharyngeal functions for the elderly using day care services.