‘You started something … then I continued by myself’: a qualitative study of physical activity maintenance

Abstract

Background: Most mid-life and older adults are not achieving recommended physical activity (PA) targets and effective interventions are needed to increase and maintain PA long-term for health benefits. The Pedometer And Consultation Evaluation (PACE-UP) trial, a three-armed primary care pedometer-based walking intervention in those aged 45-75 years, demonstrated increased PA levels at 12 months. A three-year follow-up was conducted to evaluate long-term PA maintenance, including a qualitative component. Aim:To examine facilitators and barriers to PA maintenance in mid-life and older adults previously involved in a PA trial. Method: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 60 PACE-UP participants across all study arms. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim and coded independently by researchers, prior to thematic analysis. Findings: Two-thirds of participants felt since the PACE-UP trial they had an awareness of PA, with the pedometer reported as 'kick-starting' regular activity, and then helped them to maintain regular activity. PA facilitators included: maintaining good health, self-motivation, social support and good weather. Lack of time was the most frequently cited barrier. Other barriers were often the inverse of the facilitators; for example, poor health and bad weather. Participants described the type of 'top-up' intervention they would find beneficial to aid PA maintenance (eg, text messages, online resources and walking groups). Conclusion: A challenge for future PA interventions is to transform barriers into facilitators; for example, educating trial participants about the value of PA for many chronic health conditions to change this from inhibiting to promoting PA. Participants provided ideas for encouraging PA maintenance which could be incorporated into future interventions.

A qualitative exploration of the experiences of primary care patients engaged in email counseling meant to increase physical activity

“…As for the barriers to PA, this study is in agreement with prior work, confirming that lack of time and unfavorable weather conditions are the most common barriers for increasing and maintaining PA (Brawley, Rejeski, & King, 2003;Kelly et al, 2016;Normansell et al, 2014;Trost, Owen, Bauman, Sallis, & Brown, 2002;Wahlich et al, 2017). In addition, two participants explicitly expressed their preference of sedentary lifestyle and lack of motivation as a barrier to increase their PA levels.…”

Patients’ experiences with a behaviour change intervention to enhance physical activity in primary care: A mixed methods study

“…The importance of involving others in initiating and maintaining physical activity has been widely reported [28,30,32]. Our study showed that family members and friends were facilitators, and in particular, spouses who joined the patient, which concurs with other studies [28,29,33,34].…”

“…Patients perceived physical and emotional benefits of their increased physical activity, which positively affected their engagement in increasing and maintaining their activity; this has also been found in other studies [28,30]. Patients’ increased awareness also engaged them to continue and maintain being physically active [28–31].…”

Segmentation of Portuguese customers’ expectations from fitness programs

“…The lack of interest shown by members of this group regarding physical activity may be an indicator to the managers of fitness centres that strategically they should not develop specific programs to them, since it would be very difficult to change their inactivity behaviour. Wahlich et al, 2017, suggest the use of technologic devices, such pedometer or caloric expenditure measurements as strategies to increase this segment engagement on fitness club.…”