Cycling Without Age: An Australian residential aged care home experience

Abstract

Objective: Cycling Without Age (CWA) involves taking residents on outdoor trishaw (electric bicycle) rides driven by trained 'pilots'. This study explored the CWA experience from the perspective of residents and family members, staff and volunteer pilots from a residential aged care home in Queensland, Australia.Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used. Interviews were conducted with 21 participants. Transcripts were analysed thematically, with the interview questions determining a priori categories followed by coding of central themes.Results: Several themes emerged. For residents, seeing familiar places prompted reminiscences, and being outdoors elicited positive emotions. Family members reported CWA was a novel way to be with their loved one. Enabling residents to have time away from the care home with community contact was rewarding for pilots. Staff noted improvement in residents' mood post-ride, however, rides needed to be scheduled to fit in with their workflow. Conclusions:Cycling Without Age was perceived to offer a unique and meaningful experience, with benefits including sharing stories, being outside, and feeling part of the community.

Can We Steer Nursing Home Residents Away from Loneliness? A Qualitative Study of Cycling without Age

“…Overall, the themes identified in this study align with findings from similar studies. Cyarto et al [ 22 ] found that CWA was associated with experiencing reminisced positive emotions and gave meaningful experiences. Gray et al [ 20 ] found that the core of CWA was meeting new people and engaging in a shared experience, and McNiel and Westphal [ 21 ] found that participating in CWA gave nursing home residents the possibility of fresh air and social connectivity.…”

“…Previous findings suggest that participating in CWA rides has positive short-term effects on the participants’ mood and wellbeing [ 19 ] and is associated with of positive emotions [ 20 ]. Moreover, participation in the bike rides facilitate socialization among residents [ 21 ] and provide an opportunity for them to spend time outside the nursing homes, rediscovering familiar places within the community [ 22 ].…”

Pre-post evaluation of nursing home residents’ quality of life after 16-20-weeks participation in the trishaw-passenger initiative Cycling Without Age

“…weather conditions, length and duration of rides, mood of the pilots prior to the rides, and environment). The programme's effect on quality of life and immediate impact on happiness have been mentioned, anecdotally, numerous times by programme founder, Ole Kassow [15], and qualitatively by McNiel and Westphal, Cyarto et al, and Christensen [9,10,12], who argued that "breaths of fresh air" and "break from daily routines" were prominent feelings among "Cycling Without Age" passengers. The trishaw rides allowed them to enjoy "the natural environment away from the home" [12], promoting relationships, togetherness and joy [10], all hypothesized to contribute to positive emotions, and thus positively impact life satisfaction, mood and well-being.…”

“…The programme's effect on quality of life and immediate impact on happiness have been mentioned, anecdotally, numerous times by programme founder, Ole Kassow [15], and qualitatively by McNiel and Westphal, Cyarto et al, and Christensen [9,10,12], who argued that "breaths of fresh air" and "break from daily routines" were prominent feelings among "Cycling Without Age" passengers. The trishaw rides allowed them to enjoy "the natural environment away from the home" [12], promoting relationships, togetherness and joy [10], all hypothesized to contribute to positive emotions, and thus positively impact life satisfaction, mood and well-being. Cyarto et al further hypothesized that mood improvements might be caused by visits to destinations of relevance to the passengers' pasts and storytelling during rides, both prominent elements in reminiscing (which is an effective intervention for life satisfaction among nursing home residents [38]).…”

“…The potentials of "Cycling Without Age" have been reported anecdotally and in a few research projects and studies with varying scopes [8][9][10]. These suggest that "Cycling Without Age" positively impacts nursing home residents' well-being through renewed sense of freedom, enjoyment, and connection to local surroundings [9,11,12]. Findings in a thesis from Canada showed that biking over 12 weeks signi cantly improved older adults' (n = 23) happiness and was associated with maintenance of quality of life [13].…”