Supalak Khemthong

Effect of Musical Training on Reaction Time: A Randomized Control Trial in Thai Elderly Individuals

Musical training in leisure time has influenced the well-being and health of the elderly individuals, but the Thai elderly people spend more leisure time resting. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a musical training program on reaction times in the Thai elderly individuals. Healthy elderly individuals of both sexes with no musical background were randomly divided into one control group (n 1⁄4 30) and one experimental group (n 1⁄4 30). The control group did not receive the musical training program, but the experimental group received the musical training program for 7 weeks (20 minutes per week). Reaction times of the participants’ dominant index were measured during the first and seventh week. The experimental group had significantly faster visual and auditory reaction times than the control group in the seventh week. The musical training program promoted health accessibility and leisure participation for the Thai elderly individuals by improving their visual and auditory reaction time.

Classification of leisure participation in women with chronic conditions: a measurement tool.

Abstract A measurement tool has been developed to classify and quantify participation in different types of leisure for adults with chronic health conditions. This tool is needed to provide more understanding of the contribution to health outcomes of positive and negative engagement in leisure activities. This paper reports on the development of the Classification of Leisure Participation (CLP) Scale for women with chronic conditions. Sixty‐one leisure and social activity items were generated from previous studies. Using a postal survey, 102 participants were asked to indicate whether each item represented mostly physical, social, educational/creative, or passive leisure. Using cluster analysis and a cut‐off of 60% agreement, 16 physical items, 14 social items, 0 educational/creative items, and 8 passive items were identified. Strong face validity was based on the item generation existing from research of women with chronic conditions. Strong internal consistency reliability (Cronbachs Alpha = 0.74) was found for the overall scale. Construct validity (hypothesis testing procedure) found mild to moderate correlations between physical/social leisure and some subscales of the SF‐36 at p < 0.05. The CLP Scale provides a mechanism to further investigate the impact of leisure participation on physical and mental health in adults.