For the past 17 years, the social enterprise Siel Bleu has been developing and implementing physical activity programmes tailored to elderly people in care homes, with the aim of promoting active ageing, preventing the risks and chronic conditions associated with ageing, and providing support for those with care needs. Siel Bleu works with 80,000 beneficiaries across 4,000 care homes and employs 400 staff. In 2012, Siel Bleu, with the support of the European Union and Danone-Ecosystème, established an évaluation protocol for an adapted physical activity programme aimed at care home residents: HAPPIER (Healthy Activity & Physical Programme Innovations in Elderly Residences).
The challenges addressed by this protocol stem from the growing importance of care for elderly and dependent people provided by specialised care homes, due to increasing life expectancy, particularly in Europe. In the face of this new and widespread phenomenon, the quality of life of older people living in care homes and the cost of their care are becoming matters of the utmost importance. In this context, this study examines the hypothesis that physical activity has a beneficial effect on the general mental and physical health of older people, as well as on their risk of falling, which is the most serious and most common cause of health problems among older people.
