What Are Older Women's Perceptions of Physical Activity and Exercise?

Paper

Thursday, July 22, 2004

This presentation is part of : Physical Activity and Chronic Illness

Ann Danielle M. Buttner, RN, ADN, BSN, MA, MPA, MS, Dixon School of Nursing, Abington Memorial Hospital, Willow Grove, PA, USA and Ann Marie Laughlin, RN, BSN, MS, School of Nursing, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA.

Learning Objective #1: Identify differences and similarities between the phenomena of physical activity and exercise as perceived by women between the ages of 65 and 75
Learning Objective #2: Discuss the impact of older women's perceptions of physical activity and exercise on the role of the nurse in developing viable health promotion programs

Objectives: Understand what constitutes the experiences of physical activity and exercise for women between the ages of 65 and 75. Determine if--and how--women between the ages of 65 and 75 define physical activity and exercise and distinguish physical activity from exercise.

Design: Qualitative, descriptive, and emergent

Population, Sample, Setting, Years: A purposive sampling approach was used to obtain a sample of 14 women drawn from a population of women between the ages 65 to 75 who were ambulatory, mentally competent, English-speaking, in stable health, and residing in own homes and older adult communities.

Method: A phenomenological, grounded theory method of inquiry necessitated the use of focused, semi-structured interviews as the primary means of data collection. Data was transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method.

Findings: Physical Activity and exercise were not defined as separate entities by half of the interviewees. Differences in characteristics, bodily sensations, influences, and outcomes between physical activity and exercise were articulated by most but not all of the study participants. Influences on decisions not to participate in either exercise or physical activity included less stamina, retirement, lack of interest, and husband’s poor health but did not include pain or fatigue. The study participants' social environment or lack of a support system e.g., widowhood, was found to have a strong impact on their decisions to exercise but did not impact decisions to remain physically active.

Conclusions: Confusion does exist in how the terms physical activity and exercise are defined and used by older women. This may impact the accuracy of activity self-reporting to health care providers.

Implications: Implications exist for improving (a) communication between health care providers and older female clients and (b) community programming efforts aimed at promoting the health of older women, particularly widows.

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