Asian American Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity

Abstract

Objectives To explore Asian American midlife women’s attitudes toward physical activity using a feminist perspective. Design A qualitative online forum study. Settings Internet communities/groups for midlife women and ethnic minorities. Participants A total of 17 Asian American women recruited through the internet using a convenience sampling method. Methods A six-month qualitative online forum was conducted using 17 online forum topics. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Three major themes related to Asian American midlife women’s attitudes toward physical activity were extracted from the data: keeping traditions, not a priority, and not for Asian girls. Because Asian American midlife women were busy in keeping their cultural traditions, they rarely found time for physical activity. The women gave the highest priority to their children, and physical activity was the lowest priority in their busy lives. Also, the women were rarely encouraged to participate in physical activity during their childhoods, and they perceived that their weak and small bodies were not appropriate for physical activity. Conclusions Several implications for future development of physical activity promotion programs for this specific population have been suggested based on the findings.

Menopausal symptoms and physical activity in multiethnic groups of midlife women: a secondary analysis

“…Also N‐H African American women who spent time on leisure‐time physical activity were considered selfish (Im et al . ). That is, attitudes towards physical activity in their own cultures may affect attitudes towards perceived symptoms.…”

“…On the contrary, N-H Asian women placed less value on leisure-time physical activity, but actively participated in their daily routines (Im & Choe 2001). Also N-H African American women who spent time on leisure-time physical activity were considered selfish (Im et al 2011a). That is, attitudes towards physical activity in their own cultures may affect attitudes towards perceived symptoms.…”

Clusters of midlife women by physical activity and their racial/ethnic differences

“…Thus, if a health care provider targets to increase physical activity of NH Asian women in this group, she/he needs to incorporate some components that aim to change their perceived barriers. Considering that child care is a frequently reported barrier in NH Asian women, 37 she/he needs to provide some sample strategies to avoid the barrier (e.g., information on resources for child care options).…”

Practical Guidelines for Feminist Research in Nursing

“…1,27,37 If the research purpose and questions are not coherent to the aims of feminist research, there is no need to use a feminist research method that may not be appropriate for the research purposes and questions. 38 Subsequently, they rarely had time and effort for physical activity. For example, in study C, [34][35] we aimed to determine racial/ethnic commonalities and differences in midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity.…”

“…In studies A to C, [30][31][32][33][34][35] we chose the feminist research methodology because we basically aimed to disclose gender-and ethnicity-related issues in human being's health/illness experience. 38 Also, the women mentioned that, under their patriarchal culture, they were rarely encouraged to participate in physical activity even from childhood. The main reason for our research question was that little is known about ethnic-specific attitudes toward physical activity of ethnic minority women and the lack of knowledge on the ethnic-specific attitudes negatively influenced the intervention development for physical activity promotion, subsequently making most of physical activity promotion programs fail in achieving their goals of increasing physical activity of ethnic minority midlife women.…”