Annika Frahsa

Little is known about physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) among nursing home residents although PA is known as a health promoter. This study examined PA, SB, and their predictors among nursing home residents ( n = 63). Dependent variables were accelerometry-based PA and SB. Predictor variables included in a path analysis were age, sex, body mass index, Barthel Index, cognitive status (Mini-Mental State Examination), physical performance (hand grip strength and habitual walking speed), and well-being (World Health Organization-5 well-being index). PA was very low ( M steps per day = 2,433) and SB was high ( M percentage of sedentary time = 89.4%). PA was significantly predicted by age (β = −0.27, p = .008), body mass index (β = −0.29, p = .002), Barthel Index (β = 0.24, p = .040), and hand grip strength (β = 0.30, p = .048). SB was significantly predicted by body mass index (β = 0.27, p = .008) and Barthel Index (β = −0.30, p = .012). Results might be helpful for everyday practice to identify individuals at high risk for low PA and high SB.

This empirical article explores the dynamics of exchange and reciprocity between cohorters, that is, study organizers, and cohortees, that is, study participants. Drawing on literature on bioeconomy and valuation, we analyze cohortees’ expectations in return for the “clinical labor” they perform in the pilot phase of a Swiss precision public health study. Based on an ethnography of this cohort and data from seven focus groups with cohortees ( n = 37), we identified four positions: (1) the good citizen participant, (2) the critical participant, (3) the concerned participant, and (4) the self-oriented participant. These reveal that cohortees’ participation, still framed in altruistic terms, nevertheless engages expectations about reciprocal obligations of the state and science in terms of public health, confirming the deep entanglement of gift-based, financial, and moral economies of participation. The different values emerging from these expectations—robust scientific evidence about environmental exposure and a socially oriented public health—provide rich indications about stake making which might matter for the future of precision public health.