Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing
ResearchMidlife Women’s Attitudes Toward Physical Activity
Section snippets
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study with three sections: (a) an Internet survey, (b) an expert review, and (c) an online forum. Only the findings from the online forum are presented in this paper. Briefly, the purpose of the Internet survey and the expert review was to determine psychometric properties of instruments measuring attitudes toward physical activity among a multiethnic group of 100 midlife women recruited through the Internet. The Internal Review Board of the institution where the
Findings
A total of six themes emerged from the data analysis. Themes were common across ethnic groups, but there were some ethnic differences in details of each theme. The themes were (a) gendered experience, (b) physical activity as all body movements, (c) no time for physical activity, (d) environment matters, (e) health concerns made me do it, and (f) need a companion. Each theme is discussed in detail below.
Midlife women were raised not to be involved in “masculine” physical activities such as
Discussion
The findings of the study indicated that women across ethnic groups were raised by their parents and society to be physically inactive and that women’s physical activity was gendered experience. Also, the findings reported that some ethnic minority women perceived all human body movements as physical activity and thought that they were adequately doing physical activity in their daily lives. Most women had no time for physical activity because of their multiple duties as mothers, spouses,
Conclusions and implications
This study indicated six common themes related to midlife women’s attitudes toward physical activity. Based on these findings, here are some implications for nursing practice and research.
First, nurses need to consider the influence of women’s multiple roles on time for physical activity in their practices related to health promotion for midlife women. Many women in this study described busy schedules and multiple duties as mothers, spouses, workers, and family caregivers. Thus, to increase
Acknowledgment
Funded by the Expedited Proposal-Enhancement Grant (EP-EG) program, the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research for Underserved Populations, National Institute of Nursing Research (P30 NR005051).
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2018, Applied Nursing ResearchCitation Excerpt :Cultural expectations that women are responsible for only family and community obligations negatively influenced PA behaviors in women in all ethnic minority groups. Many studies reported a lack of time for PA owing to the cultural expectation that women fulfill the caregiver role or the difficulty in balancing their role as caretaker and other family obligations (D'Alonzo, 2012; D'Alonzo & Fischetti, 2008; Dunn, 2008; Griffith et al., 2011; Im et al., 2008; Im et al., 2012; Im, Ko, et al., 2013; Im, Lee, et al., 2013; Martinez et al., 2009; Mohamed et al., 2014; Peterson, 2011). In contrast, White women were found to control their PA by making an individual decision, getting cultural support for doing so, and being privileged to engage in PA, thus increasing PA levels (Im, Ko, et al., 2013).
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