At Leap, we know that keeping physically active and mentally alert is critical for living a full life. Our programmes aim to encourage participation for people in all stages of their lives.
With this in mind, we explored ways to engage with the older generation. In older age, it can become more challenging to find activities that are tailored to your interests and ability levels. However, physical mobility, mental stimulation and social interaction are essential for a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. So, how could Leap support the well-being of older residents?
Leap received investment from Buckinghamshire Public Health to coordinate the Bucks Live Longer Better initiative. We were successful in our bid because we made a strong case for the value of using regular movement and activity to help adults in later life.
We researched and approached Oomph Wellness, an on-demand platform that has been specifically designed for use by older people, to support the project. Committed to encouraging a full life, for life, the team behind Oomph have collated a wealth of activities, which license holders can access online. Working with a range of partners, the platform offers a daily schedule of options, including live and recorded exercise sessions, quizzes, puzzles and games, music performances, guided relaxation and arts activities.
As a new platform, Oomph had been successfully trialled in several care homes. They were keen to expand their reach and we saw an opportunity to help them and local organisations in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.
Oomph was a great product to test how we could use technology to help care homes, sheltered housing and day services support adults in later life to recondition, recover and build resilience in their physical and emotional well-being. We used the Public Health investment to pay for a 12-month license for seven local partners.
We worked with 7 participating organisations who support groups of older people including:
- Windsor Lodge Care Home, Gerrards Cross
- Healthy Living Centre, Aylesbury
- Flackwell Heath & Loudwater Day Centre, South Bucks
- Talk Back, Aylesbury*
- The Croft Care Home, Amersham
- Burlington Hall Care Home, Woburn Sands
Once they all found ways to make the platform work in their settings, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Throughout the 12-month project, there was regular engagement with Oomph activities. Our data shows a total of 5,810 interactions with the platform. We received positive feedback from the organisations using Oompf:
“It gives them a focus to look forward to and get them together in the lounge. They enjoy them, but they do get tired.”
– Windsor Lodge Care Home
“The residents have become more active and have improved on mobilities as well as socialising more confidently with others. They have appeared more than happy to engage in all the different activities planned via the Oomph activities calendar.”
– Care Home activity co-ordinator
And participants reported benefits too:
“Got me moving in my chair and was fun”
“Makes me feel better”
“Getting into the lounge with others and joining in”
“Different exercises, the music and nice to hear other people”
“Watching others and having fun laughing”
“Enjoying the company of the others, joining in and that someone is helping and showing how to do the exercises”
The Oomph project ended in November 2022 and we were interested to know whether the seven partners would continue to use the platform. Two of the partners saw the value of it and have paid for a license to continue using it.
“Having an activity coordinator in place at the organisation made all the difference in ensuring Oomph activities were regularly used. A big screen was also beneficial, as everyone can see what was happening and it promotes the social aspects of coming together and joining in.
The advantage of this platform was that it enabled the partners to have access to physical activity whenever they wanted. In addition, the quizzes, articles and social interaction all benefit mental well-being.
Collectively, the activities enhanced the quality of life for participants. Their feedback and the noted improvements in their mobility, mood and confidence evidence that this project was a success.”
– Abbi Mckane, Leap
Abbi also shared learning from a project development perspective:
– Keep open dialogue with the settings and review regularly. Sometimes it won’t work in certain settings and that’s ok. It’s important that partners feel comfortable to tell you this
– Be prepared to change the brief! Carers Bucks wanted to change their target market 3 months in to reach more residents. The change made a huge impact. Again, keeping that open dialogue allowed those conversations to happen.
– Its not always going to be about movement / physical activity and that’s ok! Because we are all about movement and PA we sometimes purely focus on that. Oomph has lots of other resources that aren’t just about moving. It was hard at first if a setting was not using the movement sessions. But over time this happened naturally, once the setting and participants were more comfortable
– Working across county will give you wider learning – share resources / calls etc”
