STUDY PROTOCOL Open Access A multicomponent exercise intervention to improve physical functioning, cognition and psychosocial well-being in elderly nursing home residents: a study protocol of a randomized controlled trial in the PROCARE (prevention and occupational health in long-term care) project Thomas Cordes 1* , Laura L. Bischoff 1 , Daniel Schoene 2 , Nadja Schott 3 , Claudia Voelcker-Rehage 4 , Charlotte Meixner 1 , Luisa-Marie Appelles 5 , Michael Bebenek 2 , Andre Berwinkel 6 , Claudia Hildebrand 5 , Thomas Jöllenbeck 6 , Bettina Johnen 3 , Wolfgang Kemmler 2 , Thomas Klotzbier 3 , Heide Korbus 3 , Julian Rudisch 4 , Lutz Vogt 7 , Matthias Weigelt 6 , Rita Wittelsberger 5 , Katharina Zwingmann 4 and Bettina Wollesen 1 Abstract Background: Older adults, who are living in nursing homes that provide a high level of long-term nursing care, are characterized by multimorbidity and a high prevalence of dependency in activities of daily living. Results of recent studies indicate positive effects of structured exercise programs during long-term care for physical functioning, cognition, and psychosocial well-being. However, for frail elderly the evidence remains inconsistent. There are no evidence-based guidelines for exercises for nursing home residents that consider their individual deficits and capacities. Therefore, high-quality studies are required to examine the efficacy of exercise interventions for this multimorbid target group. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a multicomponent exercise intervention for nursing home residents that aims to improve physical and cognitive functioning as well as quality of life. Methods: A two-arm single-blinded multicenter randomized controlled trial will be conducted, including 48 nursing homes in eight regions of Germany with an estimated sample size of 1120 individuals. Participants will be randomly assigned to either a training or a waiting time control group. For a period of 16 weeks the training group will meet twice a week for group-based sessions (45–60 min each), which will contain exercises to improve physical functioning (strength, endurance, balance, flexibility) and cognitive-motor skills (dual-task). The intervention is organized as a progressive challenge which is successively adapted to the residents’ capacities. Physical functioning, cognitive performance, and quality of life will be assessed in both study groups at baseline (pre-test), after 16-weeks (post-treatment), and after 32-weeks (retention test, intervention group only). (Continued on next page) © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. * Correspondence: thomas.cordes@uni-hamburg.de 1 Department of Human Movement Science, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Cordes et al. BMC Geriatrics (2019) 19:369 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-019-1386-6