A 12-week study by the Bolton Clarke Research Institute has found that trishaw rides promote aged care wellbeing.
The research, described as an Australian first, found the rides elicited memories and new experiences, giving rise to positive emotions, interacting with the community and a break from daily routine.
The Bolton Clarke Research Institute study, published in the Australasian Journal on Ageing, was conducted with residents, families and volunteers involved with the Cycling Without Age program at Bolton Clarke’s Rowes Bay residential aged care community in Townsville.
The program, which involved volunteers taking residents and their family members for trishaw rides along the Rowes Bay foreshore in purpose-built electric tricycles, with 30 residents taking part in a total of 216 rides.
The benefits were immediate:
“Before we left, my mother could barely keep her eyes open. Once we got out, she was wide awake, she was happy, she was waving – it gave her a new lease on life,” a family member said.
Riding along The Strand reconnected residents with familiar places from their past with one resident saying “oh, the memories (it) brought back.”
“You feel good… mentally it makes you feel happy,” another participant said.
The project is now part of regular activities at Bolton Clarke’s Rowes Bay community.
Proof that getting active is good for the soul.
