Presentation description

Older adults residing in assisted living facilities often face declining health, reduced social interactions, and lack of meaningful activity. This can negatively impact their wellbeing. Staff are also at risk for decreased wellbeing due to employment issues such as staffing shortages and increased care needs of residents. One intervention that holds potential to positively impact wellbeing in both residents and staff is adaptive biking. While past research has documented improvements in mood for residents and decreased stress in staff following shared bike rides, data are currently lacking on the impact of specific adaptive biking programs on additional aspects of wellbeing. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an adaptive biking program on the wellbeing of residents and staff by assessing positive and negative emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment, and health. |Residents (n = 12) and staff (n = 11) were paired into ""biking buddies"" to complete eight shared bike rides over a six-week period using a side-by-side adaptive bike. Standardized wellbeing assessments including The PERMA Profiler (for residents) and the Workplace PERMA Profiler (for staff) were administered pre- and post-program. Additionally, a study-specific Post-Ride Assessment was used following each of the eight bike rides. Resident and staff perceptions of that ride's impact of each of the focus areas of wellbeing was evaluated using an 11-point numeric rating scale (0 - 10). Qualitative data were also collected to better understand the subjective experience of participants. This poster documents preliminary findings based on analysis of resident and staff post-ride assessments following the first four rides. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize each ride's ability to promote wellbeing in terms of positive and negative emotions, engagement, meaning, relationships, accomplishments and health. Thematic analysis of qualitative comments provide additional insight on the program's contribution to resident and staff wellbeing.