BACKGROUND: To design effective tailored interventions to promote physical activity (PA) among older adults, insights are needed into the contexts in which older adults engage in PA and their affective and physical experiences. Sensor-triggered event-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is an innovative method for capturing real-life contexts, as well as affective and physical states, during or immediately after specific events, such as PA. This study aimed to (1) describe the physical and social contexts, and the affective and physical states during PA among older adults, (2) evaluate how these constructs fluctuate during PA episodes, and (3) describe affective states during PA according to the context. METHODS: An intensive longitudinal sensor-triggered event-based EMA study was conducted with 92 Belgian older adults (65 + years). During seven days, participants were monitored using a Fitbit, which triggered a smartphone-based questionnaire on the event-based EMA platform 'HealthReact' after a five-minute walk. Participants reported on contexts and affective (positive/negative valence) and physical states (pain and fatigue) during the PA event. Descriptive statistics and generalized mixed models were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Older adults predominantly engaged in daily physical activities, such as walking for transport, leisure walking, and gardening, rather than structured exercise. They consistently reported high positive affect, low negative affect, and minimal physical complaints during PA. Furthermore, older adults mainly engage in physical activities alone, particularly in outdoor settings. Variations in contexts, affect, and fatigue were mostly driven by within-subject differences. The model showed significant differences across times of day, with negative affect being highest in the evening and fatigue lowest in the morning. Additionally, the physical and social context influenced negative affect (but not positive affect), with outdoor activities performed alone and indoor activities performed with others being associated with lower negative affect. CONCLUSIONS: While these findings could enhance the effectiveness of tailored PA interventions, it remains unclear whether the observed affective and physical states are causes or effects of PA, and whether the contexts in which the activities were performed align with older adults' preferences. Further research is needed to explore these relationships and to better understand older adults' preferred PA contexts.

Department of Public Health and Primary care Ghent University Ghent Belgium

Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Physical Activity and Health Department of Movement and Sports Sciences Ghent University Watersportlaan 2 Ghent 9000 Belgium

Research Foundation Flanders Brussels Belgium

School of Public Health Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium

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