The Effect of Lifestyle Modification in Treatment of Constipation in Older Adult

By Hui Chin Chua

Singapore

Clinical Case Reports

Published: Aug 30, 2016 | pg. no: 1-16

Abstract: Constipation is a common problem in the older adults, occurrence increases exponentially in persons aged more than 65 years. Constipation can be a bothersome symptom that can have a detrimental effect on the older adults’ health related quality of life and places a vast financial burden on both the older adults and the health care providers. If constipation is not managed constructively, the older adults can encounter harmful consequences. It can have a significant influence on the quality of life of the older adults . Boasshard et al. stated that constipation results from a mixture of risk factors, such as decreased fibre and fluid intake, and reduced physical activity. They proposed that modification of lifestyle factors, including increase in fluid intake, habitual physical activity and dietary modification may reduce incidence of constipation in the older adults. A number of research studies on lifestyle modification, such as improve on fluid intake, physical activity and high fibre intake have been demonstrated to be effective in treatment of constipation in the older adults. This paper will critically appraise the clinical research literature, which addresses the effectiveness of lifestyle modification studies in the management of constipation. A review of the literature will offer the reviewer with the latest theoretical and logical information about the specific issues and identify a combination of what is known and not known about this topic. Moreover, a literature review also provides the reader with a circumstance for understanding existing information on a subject matter and enlightens the implication of the findings. Polit & Beck stated that continuous quality improvement through clinical research makes current healthcare more effective, hence the impact and changes are also come from the evidence of clinical research which is very significant. The author will implement a detailed and precise search strategy by ensuring the review will be comprehensive and thorough and ought to incorporate all relevant up-to-date references. This will involve examination of an extensive range of literature, consisting electronic, hand and Internet searches of relevant articles and databases by selecting keywords. After the literature search, a high quality review needs to be done in a systematic manner by making the decision rules need to be clear in evaluating the literature. Furthermore, the criteria for including or excluding the study need to be specific. However, in view of the fact that the evidence of this topic is already well-established, the author may foresee difficulties in searching for recent papers pertaining to the research question. There are two main approaches to reviewing literature which are narrative reviews and systematic reviews. The author has adopted narrative approach in view of limitations such as time constraints and lack of impactful articles. The author will evaluate and critique the quality of each article in order to draw conclusions about the overall body of evidence and identify gaps in the current evidence base. An analytical framework is then applied. The author will also conclude with a concise summary of current evidence. The critical summary should be able to demonstrate the need for future research or clinical improvements.

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