Objective

To draw a questionnaire to estimate physical activity of adult foster home residents. To observe the physical activity’s level and available time. To estimate the APA development’s interest.

Material/patients and methods

We designed a questionnaire allowing to assess the physical activity in a population with motor deficiencies. It was tested among 12 healthy subjects and 25 adult foster home residents. The residents’ stay at this foster home (FH) lasts between a few days and a few weeks. The assessment was made on a typical week at home and on a typical week at the FH. The residents suffered from various acquired neurological disabilities.

Results

The results validate reproducibility (Pearson coefficient = 0.66) and temporal estimation of the questionnaire for healthy subjects. We used an error margin of ± 15% for the temporal estimation. The subjects have a lot of free time in their weeks (on average 26.6H of no activity at home and 39.82H at FH), a daily energy expenditure lower than that of healthy sedentary subjects (on average 1960.06 kcals per day for women and 2139.39 kcals for men against 2000 to 2100 kcals for healthy women and 2700 to 3000 kcals for healthy men , a few intense activities and a low physical practice (on average only 0.03H per week to practice moderate intensity activities and 0.09H for high intensity activities). We observe trends of correlations between certain functional factors and energy expenditure ( P = 0.0058 between energy expenditure and motor function’s estimation with the multiple regression). APA increases subject’s daily energy expenditure (single activity proposed at the FH which has an intensity ≥ 3 METs).

Discussion – conclusion

To maintain health condition and preserve autonomy for people with a handicap, it is imperative to allow them the access to different physical practices in order to increase their physical activity level. To do so, APA’s development is essential. In particular in FH in order to provide education to physical activity during temporary stays.