Comparing the effect of Face-to-Face and Electronic Educational Methods on the Knowledge of physical activity in the older adults: A randomized controlled trial

Knowledge of physical activity (KPAQ) is very effective in preventing chronic diseases and increasing the quality of life in the elderly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effect of face-to-face and electronic educational methods on the KPAQ among the elderly.

This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 88 elderly people referred to Kahrizak Daily Care Center in Karaj, Iran from 2017 to 2018. Participants were randomly divided into educational groups including face-to-face and electronic educational groups as well as a control group. Data collection tools included questionnaires of demographic characteristics and KPAQ, collected in three stages before, 1 and 3 months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS 24 at a significant level of 0.05.

The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of KPAQ in the face-to-face and electronic educational groups (P=0.001). The results of Bonferronichr('39')s post-hoc test indicated a significant difference between the control group with face-to-face and electronic educational groups (P<0.01). The rate of effect size obtained to compare the KPAQ score was 0.89 and 0.87 for face-to-face and electronic educational groups, respectively.

The present study represented that face-to-face educational method was more effective than electronic educational method in improving the KPAQ of the elderly. Therefore, electronic educational method along with face-to-face educational method can be used to improve the KPAQ of the elderly.