Abstract
BackgroundA sufficient amount of regular moderate physical activity (PA), at least 2.5 h of moderate to vigorous PA per week as recommended by the WHO, is one of the most important lifestyle factors for maintaining good health in old age. However, less than one in four older adults (65 years or older) in Germany meets this recommendation for PA. Although previous research has found several factors related to participation in PA programmes, little is known about how these factors simultaneously affect participation decisions of older adults and how PA programmes can accommodate these dynamics. Taking an everyday life perspective, this study aimed to identify multidimensional types of PA behaviour among older adults.MethodsIn this qualitative study, 25 episodic interviews were conducted with participants and non-participants (ratio 1:3) of a structured PA intervention for older adults (65 years or older). Direct and indirect recruitment methods (e.g. pick up, gatekeeper) were used in different municipalities in Northwest Germany. The interviews were analysed according to the Grounded Theory methodology and a typology of PA participation behaviour was derived from the responses of the interviewees.ResultsFour types of PA participation behaviour were identified based on different activity goals and time management preferences: ‘Health designer’, ‘Flexible function-oriented type’, ‘Comparison and competition type’ and ‘Fun and wellness-oriented type’. The results indicate that the structured PA intervention was better able to reach the health designer and the competitive type but was less successful in accommodating the function- or wellness-oriented type.ConclusionsIn order to improve older adults’ participation in PA, preventive offers should take various activity goals and the desire for flexible time management in everyday life into account. The typology of PA participation behaviour contributes to a better understanding of the target group and can thus help to improve the development, communication and implementation of tailored PA interventions.
Highlights
A sufficient amount of regular moderate physical activity (PA), at least 2.5 h of moderate to vigorous PA per week as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), is one of the most important lifestyle factors for maintaining good health in old age
The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with participation in a PA intervention from an everyday life perspective, and to construct a typology that reveals patterns of PA participation behaviour of older adults
Sample and recruitment Individuals were eligible for participation in the qualitative interviews if they were 65 to 79 years old and had either participated or consciously decided against participating in the PA intervention
Summary
A sufficient amount of regular moderate physical activity (PA), at least 2.5 h of moderate to vigorous PA per week as recommended by the WHO, is one of the most important lifestyle factors for maintaining good health in old age. The WHO considers physical activity (PA) as one of the most important lifestyle factors supporting healthy ageing and recommends at least 2.5 h of moderate to vigorous PA per week. Various factors at different social-ecological levels have been shown to affect participation in health promotion programmes [13, 14]. In addition to social strata and sex (gender), several individual-level factors play a role (e.g. age, health status, attitudes, knowledge, needs, motives, perception and type of activity) [9, 13,14,15, 20, 21]
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