85381 - Physical Activity in Frailty and Disability

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the students gain an understanding of: - the most frequent causes of FRAILITY in people living in community; - the main profiles of physical or cognitive disability; - the interactions between physical activity and functioning in frailty or impaired people.

Course contents

The course will comprehend four modules, for a total of 18 hours:  

Module 1 (disability): Disability: a historical perspective. Epidemiology of disability. 'Old' models of disability: the biomedical model (International Classification of Impairment, Disabilities and Handicaps, 1980) and the social model. The social impact of disability. Lessening the impact of disability.

Module 2 (the biopsychosocial model and the ICF classification): Criticisms of the ICIDH and revision principles of the ICIDH. A new conceptual approach to disability: the biopsychosocial model of disability. Interactions between the model’s components. The ICF classification (International Classification of Functioning, disability and health, 2001). How to use the ICF to describe the lived experience of a person with a disability. How to code with the ICF. Reasons and purposes of the ICF. ICF core sets

Module 3 (the frailty syndrome): Definition of frailty. Natural history. Epidemiology. Pathophysiology. Diagnosis and treatment. Falls

Module 4 (physical activity in frailty and disability): Operational definitions of physical activity, exercise, physical fitness, sport. Health consequences of physical inactivity. Health benefits of physical activity. Definition of adapted physical activity (APA). APA. APA for persons with disabilities. APA in frailty. Sport for persons with disability

Readings/Bibliography

The reading materials and pdfs of the slides will be posted after each lecture on IOL.

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures using slides. Homework on case studies.

Assessment methods

For this course, the assessment will be in three parts:

1) ongoing assessments, based on online MCQs throughout the course. Usually, there will be at least an MCQ per module, altoThese assessments are compulsory and contribute up to 18 points to the final vote. 

2) the final examination will be based on:

a. Online MCQs, contributing up to to 12 points to the final vote 

b. Oral examination, contributing up to 10 points to the final vote

Thus, students attending the course are expected and strongly encouraged to keep their studying up to date with the course content.

During the first lecture instructions on the MCQ test will be provided along with a simulation of the test. The ongoing assessment will not be concurrent, so that the students will have several days to undertake the test, whereas the online final MCQ will be concurrent and supervised by the teacher.

Teaching tools

Slides. Reading materials. Individual and group exercises.

Office hours

See the website of Fabio La Porta