Perceived Benefits of Meditative Movement in Older Adults

Several meditative movement interventions have been designed for older adults in the community setting. Previous reviews have reported on the objective efficacy of interventions, but little has been reported on the effectiveness of such interventions. The purpose of this review is to report the perceived psychosocial benefits and health outcomes of meditative movement such as Tai chi (TC) and Qigong to inform clinicians on what interventions “work” under what conditions and for whom. Thirty seven studies were included in this review and were synthesized with three content areas: perceived improved outcomes and mediators; and perceived factors for initiating TC. The 37 studies included 1856 participants (mean age 67.76) who were mostly women (n = 1435) and white (n = 808). Some were Taiwanese (n = 117), non-white (n = 72), Chinese (n = 39) and African American (n = 28) and the studies were conducted in 9 countries. Clinicians can use the findings of this review to identify motivational factors for initiation and adherence and identify specific benefits from an effective TC intervention.