Sustaining or Declining Physical Activity: Reports from an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Older Adults
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Design
2.2. Data Collection
2.2.1. Survey Data
2.2.2. Interview Data
- Have you made any change in your level of physical activity in the last several (2–3) years?
- Do you think you should be more physically active than you are? Why or why not?
- What, if anything, makes it difficult to make or sustain a change in activity level?
2.2.3. Protection of Human Subject
2.3. Data Analysis
2.3.1. Quantitative Analysis
2.3.2. Qualitative Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Sample Characteristics
3.2. Comparison by Ethnic Groups
Ethnic Group Differences in Relevant Characteristics
3.3. Sustaining Physical Activity
3.4. Explaining Activity Levels
- Positive on Physical Activity
- I think I am doing a good job of regular exercise. (AC)
- Stooping, bending, stretching for a few minutes a day; I do a lot of walking and we do dancing at church. (AA)
- I always feel better when I exercise. (AC)
- The body is meant to move. (You) can’t just sit. (EA)
- I know it’s important to keep moving. (AC)
- Exercise is good for you. It’s important to move your joints if you have arthritis. (EA)
- More physical activity keeps your body going, which keeps your brain going. (AA)
- 2.
- Struggling to Sustain Physical Activity.
- Sometimes my hip hurts and I don’t feel like walking. (AC)
- When I exercise, there is pain in my neck and back due to arthritis. (EA)
- I force myself to walk each day. My long-distance walking is much shorter now because I get short of breath. (AA)
- 3.
- Wishing They Could Do More.
- If I had known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. I want to think about how to improve it and make it better. (AA)
- Want to be more active. Back pain and arthritis. (EA)
- I think I should get involved and exercise. I know I should exercise for my bad knees. (AA)
- My metabolism is slow; everything I eat turns to fat. I would love to be more active. (EA)
- I know it’s good for me and I should be doing it more often. (AC)
- 4.
- Physical Barriers Impeding Activity.
- Poor circulation, varicose veins, and swelling. (AC)
- The pain in my knees makes it difficult to do much walking. (AC)
- No exercise anymore because of shoulder problems. (AC)
- I don’t have the energy. I get tired so fast. (AA)
- I get short of breath. (AA)
- 5.
- Psychological Barriers Impeding Activity.
- Would go to the gym more if I wasn’t working part-time. (AC)
- Finding time after work, when I still have energy. (AA)
- Not enough time. (EA)
- I have too much to do. (AC)
- I am lazy and do what I want. (AA)
- Probably I could do more, but I just don’t. (AC)
- Lack of motivation. (AC)
- I’m not doing anything right now. (AC)
- By sleeping so many hours, I have less time to be active, have gained some weight. (EA)
- I don’t want to become more active. (AC)
- I don’t like exercising. I can’t find more places to dance. (EA)
3.5. Themes
3.6. Too Old
3.7. Influence of Friends and Family
3.8. Effect of Ethnic Group Membership
3.9. Confusion between Physical and Social Activity
4. Discussion
4.1. Summary of Results
4.2. Toward a Lifetime of Physical Activity
4.3. Facilitators and Barriers to Sustaining Activity
4.4. Tailoring Physical Activity Interventions
4.5. Limitations
4.6. Implications for Future Physical Activity and Interventions
4.7. Implications for Future Research
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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African American | European American | Afro-Caribbean | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Continuous Variables | M (SD) | M (SD) | M (SD) | F | p |
Age in years | 74.90 (7.50) | 76.95 (9.18) | 75.76 (7.31) | 0.36 | 0.69 |
Years of education | 11.80 (3.04) | 17.78 (4.65) | 11.06 (3.23) | 19.36 | <0.01 *b |
Years in U.S. | 74.92 (7.48) | 67.59 (17.45) | 36.25 (15.37) | 38.00 | <0.01 *c |
Cognition (MMSE) | 26.55 (2.79) | 27.58 (4.15) | 27.68 (3.66) | 0.60 | 0.55 |
Function (FAQ) | 2.14 (3.00) | 1.73 (3.95) | 2.64 (4.87) | 0.26 | 0.77 |
BMI kg/m2 | 43.29 (6.56) | 35.22 (3.81) | 37.66 (6.52) | 11.00 | <0.01 *a |
Categorical Variables | African American | European American | Afro-Caribbean | Phi Coefficient | Fisher’s Exact Test p |
Gender | 2 (M) 19 (F) | 14 (M) 10 (F) | 4 (M) 13 (F) | 0.45 | <0.01 *b |
Born in the U.S. | 0 (no) 21 (yes) | 4 (no) 20 (yes) | 15 (no) 2 (yes) | 0.78 | <0.01 *c |
Receiving Medicaid | 15 (no) 6 (yes) | 22 (no) 1 (yes) | 14 (no) 3 (yes) | 0.27 | 0.09 |
95% CI for OR | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B | SE | Wald | df | p | OR | Lower | Upper | |
Ethnicity (EA) | - | - | 3.138 | 2 | 0.208 | - | - | - |
AA | 1.68 | 1.08 | 2.40 | 1 | 0.122 | 5.35 | 0.64 | 44.67 |
AC | 2.50 | 1.46 | 2.92 | 1 | 0.088 | 12.19 | 0.69 | 214.57 |
Age | −0.08 | 0.04 | 3.30 | 1 | 0.069 | 0.92 | 0.85 | 1.01 |
BMI | 0.05 | 0.09 | 0.28 | 1 | 0.594 | 1.05 | 0.88 | 1.26 |
Constant | 3.34 | 4.04 | 0.69 | 1 | 0.408 | 28.22 | - | - |
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Tappen, R.; Vieira, E.R.; Gropper, S.S.; Newman, D.; Horne, C. Sustaining or Declining Physical Activity: Reports from an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Older Adults. Geriatrics 2021, 6, 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics6020057
Tappen R, Vieira ER, Gropper SS, Newman D, Horne C. Sustaining or Declining Physical Activity: Reports from an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Older Adults. Geriatrics. 2021; 6(2):57. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics6020057
Chicago/Turabian StyleTappen, Ruth, Edgar Ramos Vieira, Sareen S. Gropper, David Newman, and Cassandre Horne. 2021. "Sustaining or Declining Physical Activity: Reports from an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Older Adults" Geriatrics 6, no. 2: 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics6020057