The effectiveness of elderly fitness corner in Hong Kong : a case study on Morse Park

Abstract

The Government has introduced Elderly Fitness Corner (EFC) to promote exercise among elderly persons since 2006. In recent years, the number of EFCs has been increasing quickly in response to the increasing concern of aging. Still, people are wondering about EFC's effectiveness in achieving its purpose. The researcher selected planning and design features from different kinds of literature to design questionnaires to assess the effectiveness of EFC and study associations between planning and design features, level of satisfaction and physical activity of EFC users. Some planning and design features are found significant and correlated to level of satisfaction physical activity. Users are satisfied with EFC. The accessibility of EFC is high resulting in high visiting frequency, but the level of physical activity is low. Users are not treating EFC as a place to conduct moderate or vigorous physical exercise but as leisure and show sedentary physical activity during their visit. Nevertheless, EFC should provide more comprehensive supporting facilities and equipment to enhance user experience.