Chee, Kim, Im and Colleagues Publish Article in Menopause

Chee, Kim, Im and Colleagues Publish Article in Menopause

Wonshik Chee, associate professor; Sangmi Kim, postdoctoral associate; and Eun-Ok Im, associate dean for research development and regulatory affairs; recently published an article entitled "Decreasing sleep-related symptoms through increasing physical activity among Asian American midlife women" in Menopause. Co-authors include Hsiu-Min Tsai of Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Objective: The beneficial effects of physical activities on sleep-related symptoms have been reported in the literature, and physical activity has been suggested as an efficient strategy to reduce sleep-related symptoms among midlife women. The effect of Web-based physical activity promotion programs on sleep-related symptoms have, however, rarely been explored, especially among midlife racial/ethnic minority women. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the preliminary efficacy of a WPAPP on self-reported sleep-related symptoms and physical activity of Asian American midlife women.

Methods: This pilot study was a randomized repeated measures pretest/posttest control group study (14 in an intervention group and 12 in a control group). Multiple instruments were used to measure background characteristics (eg, sociodemographic and health status), sleep-related symptoms and physical activity experiences at pretest, post 1 month, and post 3 months. The data were analyzed using an intent-to-treat linear mixed-model growth curve analysis.

Results: After adjusting for covariates and random intercept, the intervention group showed a significant decrease in the total numbers of psychological (P = 0.0956) and total sleep-related symptoms (P = 0.0733) at post 1 month. Also, both groups showed a significant increase in physical activity (active living habits) at post 3 months (P = 0.0353).

Conclusions: The WPAPP is potentially beneficial in decreasing Asian American midlife women's sleep-related symptoms and promoting their lifestyle physical activity.

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