Search Results

You are looking at 11 - 20 of 701 items for :

  • "strategies" x
  • Journal of Physical Activity and Health x
  • Refine by Access: All Content x
Clear All
Restricted access

Determinants and Strategies for Physical Activity Maintenance in Chronic Health Conditions: A Qualitative Study

Sarah E. Scott, Jeff D. Breckon, Robert J. Copeland, and Andrew Hutchison

Background:

Physical activity is promoted to help adults manage chronic health conditions, but evidence suggests that individuals relapse after intervention cessation. The objective of this study was to explore the determinants and strategies for successful and unsuccessful physical activity maintenance.

Methods:

A qualitative study using semistructured interviews was conducted with 32 participants. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 20 successful and 12 unsuccessful maintainers. Adults with chronic health conditions were recruited having completed a physical activity referral scheme 6 months before study commencement. The IPAQ and SPAQ were used to categorize participants according to physical activity status. Data were analyzed using framework analysis.

Results:

Eleven main themes emerged: 1) outcome expectations, 2) experiences, 3) core values, 4) trial and error, 5) social and practical support, 6) attitudes toward physical activity, 7) environmental barriers, 8) psychological barriers, 9) physical barriers, 10) cognitive-behavioral strategies for physical activity self-management (eg, self-monitoring), and 11) condition management (eg, pacing).

Conclusions:

The findings identified determinants and strategies for successful maintenance and highlighted the processes involved in physical activity disengagement. Such findings can guide the development of physical activity maintenance interventions and increase activity engagement over the long-term in adults with chronic health conditions.

Restricted access

Financial Barriers and Pricing Strategies Related to Participation in Sports Activities: The Perceptions of People of Low Income

Ingrid H.M. Steenhuis, Steffie B.C. Nooy, Machiel J.G. Moes, and Albertine J. Schuit

Background:

Physical activity levels in most affluent countries are low and many people do not meet the current recommendations. Particularly for people with a low income, economic strategies seem promising to stimulate taking part in sports activities. This study investigated the importance of economic restraints for taking part in sports activities as well as perceptions of low-income people toward different pricing interventions.

Methods:

A qualitative study was conducted, using semistructured, individual interviews with 27 low-income men and women. The framework approach was used to analyze the transcripts of the interviews.

Results:

The respondents considered finances to be an important barrier for participating in sports activities, together with some individual barriers. Promising pricing strategies are a discount on the subscription to the fitness or sports club, a 1 month free trial, and free entrance to the swimming pool once a week.

Conclusions:

Pricing strategies may be a promising intervention to increase physical activity levels of low-income people. However, this study indicates that this should be coupled with an intervention directed at individual barriers. Some pricing strategies will be used and appreciated more by low-income people than other pricing strategies. In addition, pricing strategies should be tailored to individual needs and preferences.

Restricted access

Who Uses Exercise as a Coping Strategy for Stress? Results From a National Survey of Canadians

John Cairney, Matthew YW Kwan, Scott Veldhuizen, and Guy EJ Faulkner

Purpose:

To examine the prevalence of exercise as a coping behavior for stress, compare this to other coping behaviors, and examine its demographic, behavioral, and health correlates in a nationally representative sample of Canadians.

Method:

We used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey 1.2, a cross-sectional survey of 36,984 Canadians aged 15 and over, and conducted univariate and logistic regression analyses to address our objectives.

Results:

40% of Canadians reported using exercise for coping with stress (ranked 8th overall). These individuals were more likely to endorse other ‘positive’ coping strategies and less likely to use alcohol or drugs for coping. Being younger, female, unmarried, of high SES, and a nonsmoker were associated with higher likelihoods of using exercise as a coping strategy. High levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with increased, and heavy physical activity at work with decreased, odds of reporting using exercise for stress coping.

Conclusions:

While reported use of exercise for stress coping is common in the general population, it is less so than several other behaviors. Encouraging exercise, particularly in groups identified as being less likely to use exercise for stress coping, could potentially reduce overall stress levels and improve general health and well-being.

Restricted access

Novel Strategies to Promote Children’s Physical Activities and Reduce Sedentary Behavior

Jo Salmon

Physical activity and sedentary behavior (performed primarily while sitting) play a key role in the current and future health of young people. Most health evidence and intervention strategies targeting reductions in children’s sedentary behavior have focused on television viewing, with mixed evidence as to the effectiveness of these strategies and of the importance of television viewing for children’s health. Evidence from studies with adults using objective measures of sedentary behavior suggests that accumulated sedentary time is independently associated with metabolic health; importantly, emerging evidence suggests that the manner in which the sedentary behavior is accrued (ie, frequency of interruptions to time spent sedentary) may also have independent effects on health. Potential novel intervention approaches to reduce children’s sedentary time include activity breaks during class time at school, delivery of active lessons and homework, and changes to the classroom environment. Further evidence of the importance of sedentary time (both total accumulation and frequency of interruptions) on children’s health is required. Future studies should assess the effectiveness of interventions targeting organizational and pedagogical changes in schools as well as using homework to engage with families in more active ways.

Restricted access

Expert Approaches to Promote Adolescent Physical Activity in Iran: Development of the Promoting Strategies Using the Nominal Group Technique Meeting

Azam Baheiraei, Zeinab Hamzehgardeshi, Mohammad Reza Mohammadi, Eesa Mohammadi, and AbouAli Vedadhir

Background:

Several studies have shown that physical activity decreases as the age increases. This study was for evaluating the perspectives of health sciences specialists or informants on the strategies for increasing physical activity among Iranian adolescents using Nominal Group Technique (NGT).

Methods:

a semiquantitative/qualitative methodology research using NGT for prioritizing the strategies for alleviating the physical activities among Iranian adolescents based on the opinions of health sciences experts. This study conducted in Tehran, Iran, 2011.

Results:

Overall, 16 items received scores from 2–29 and were further listed as the accepted strategies for promoting physical activity among adolescents. The most and least recommended strategies were respectively in the categories of school, neighborhood and family. This study findings show ‘the constructionist activities or strategies (eg, claim-making, image-making, myth-constructing and framing) among adolescents using main claim-makers of Iranian society, including the state-sponsored media.,’ received the highest score by all the participants of NGT.

Conclusions:

The interesting finding of this study is the special view point of the specialists to role of socioecological factors in promoting physical activity in the context of Iranian society.

Restricted access

Associations Between After-School Physical Activity, Television Use, and Parental Strategies in a Sample of New Zealand Adolescents

Maea Hohepa, Robert Scragg, Grant Schofield, Gregory S. Kolt, and David Schaaf

Background:

Youth display suboptimal levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Few studies have examined the existence of the “displacement hypothesis” or the effect of parental strategies on activity behaviors during the after-school period.

Methods:

A total of 3471 students (12–18 years old) completed a self-report survey that assessed after-school physical activity and television (TV) use and perceived parental strategies (ie, encouragement to be active, TV-viewing rules). Participants were grouped into 4 activity groups: high TV/low active, high TV/active, low TV/low active, or low TV/active. Descriptive statistics and nominal logistic-regression analyses were conducted.

Results:

Compared with students who watched less than 1 h of TV, participants who watched ≥4 h of TV were half as likely to be active after school (≥4 h; adjusted odds ratio 0.51, 95% CI .40–.65). Compared with the low TV/active group, the other activity groups were at least 1.28 times more likely to have parents that provided only 1 parental strategy (encouragement for activity or TV rules) and up to 4.7 times more likely to have parents that provided neither strategy.

Discussion:

Sedentary behaviors are associated with displacement of active pursuits. Parental strategies exert a strong influence on after-school behaviors of high school students.

Restricted access

Promoting Active Visits to Parks: Models and Strategies for Transdisciplinary Collaboration

David M. Buchner and Paul H. Gobster

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the shared interest of the public health and parks and recreation sectors in promoting active visits to parks. At the institutional level, both sectors have missions to promote physical activity and view parks as key components in attaining physical activity goals. While some balancing among park goals may be necessary to avoid overuse and resource degradation, active visits more often complement park sustainability goals by reducing automobile and other motorized use impacts. The public health and parks and recreation sectors have each developed ecologic models to understand the determinants and outcomes of park-related physical activity. Transdisciplinary integration of these modeling efforts can lead to a better understanding of how active visits fit within the context of the overall recreational experience and the full range of benefits that parks provide. We conclude by identifying strategies for improving collaboration between the public health and parks and recreation sectors.

Restricted access

Active Living in the Trucking Sector: Environmental Barriers and Health Promotion Strategies

Yorghos Apostolopoulos, Mona M. Shattell, Sevil Sönmez, Robert Strack, Lauren Haldeman, and Victoria Jones

Background:

As one of the most underserved segments of the U.S. labor force, truck drivers have been associated with a series of morbid conditions intimately linked to their occupational milieux, their mostly unhealthful nutritional intake and sedentary lifestyles, and their resulting excess weight-gain.

Methods:

This paper reports data from a baseline assessment of 25 trucking work settings located around interstate highways I-40 and I-85 in North Carolina. It examines how the environmental attributes of these work settings influence the physical and recreational activity behaviors of truckers, compares findings with those from other occupational environments, and brings to the fore a new health promotion paradigm for trucking worksites.

Results:

Findings support growing empirical and anecdotal evidence that trucking work settings remain not only active-living deserts, but overall unhealthful places. A scan of physical, social, and information environments within trucking worksites as well as physical environments of surrounding communities reveal only meager opportunities for physical and recreational activity for truckers.

Conclusion:

This paper places the highly underserved population of truckers firmly within the discourse of worksite health promotion, and calls for comprehensive multistakeholder wellness strategies that address a multitude of risk factors linked to the occupational context.

Restricted access

Impact of Pedometer Use and Self-Regulation Strategies on Junior High School Physical Education Students’ Daily Step Counts

Jane M. Shimon and Linda M. Petlichkoff

Background:

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of pedometer use and self-regulation strategies on adolescents’ daily physical activity.

Methods:

Junior high school students (n = 113) enrolled in seventh- and eighth-grade physical education classes (52 girls, 61 boys) volunteered to participate in a 5-week study to assess daily step counts. Ten physical education classes were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) self-regulation, (b) open, and (c) control.

Results:

A repeated-measures, mixed-model analysis of variance revealed a significant 3 × 4 (Group by Time) interaction effect, F6,290 = 2.64, P < .02. Follow-up analyses indicated participants in the self-regulation group took 2071 to 4141 more steps/d than the control. No other significant differences emerged among groups on step counts.

Conclusions:

It appears that having access to and charting daily step counts (ie, self-regulatory strategies) positively influenced young adolescents to attain a higher number of steps/d.

Restricted access

Bicycle Commuting and Exposure to Air Pollution: A Questionnaire-Based Investigation of Perceptions, Symptoms, and Risk Management Strategies

Tom Cole-Hunter, Lidia Morawska, and Colin Solomon

Background:

An increase in bicycle commuting participation may improve public health and traffic congestion in cities. Information on air pollution exposure (such as perception, symptoms, and risk management) contributes to the responsible promotion of bicycle commuting participation.

Methods:

To determine perceptions, symptoms, and willingness for specific exposure risk management strategies of exposure to air pollution, a questionnaire-based cross-sectional investigation was conducted with adult bicycle commuters (n = 153; age = 41 ± 11 years; 28% female).

Results:

Frequency of acute respiratory signs and symptoms were positively associated with in-commute and postcommute compared with precommute time periods (P < .05); there was greater positive association with respiratory disorder compared with healthy, and female compared with male, participants. The perception (but not signs or symptoms) of in-commute exposure to air pollution was positively associated with the estimated level of in-commute proximity to motorized traffic. The majority of participants indicated a willingness (which varied with health status and gender) to adopt risk management strategies (with desired features) if shown to be appropriate and effective.

Conclusions:

While acute signs and symptoms of air pollution exposure are indicated with bicycle commuting, and more so in susceptible individuals, there is willingness to manage exposure risk by adopting effective strategies with desired features.