Motivators and barriers to regular exercise among older people living in old age homes in Ekurhuleni Southern Subdistrict

Date
2015-04-17
Authors
Adeniyi, Aro Abiodun
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
BACKGROUND Physical activity has been consistently shown to play an important role in healthy ageing. While motivators and barriers to regular physical activities among old people residing in old age homes have been studied in other parts of the world, the researcher found no studies on this subject in South Africa. Therefore, the aim of this research was to identify the motivators and barriers to regular exercise in elderly people residing in old age homes in Ekurhuleni Southern sub-district of Gauteng province. METHODS This was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted among elderly residents in old age homes in Ekurhuleni Southern Sub-district. A structured questionnaire was administered in the common languages: English, Afrikaans and Zulu. The data was collected by the researcher (assisted by research assistants) from 139 residents in seven old age homes. A Pearson chi square test was used to examine the relationship between participants’ characteristics with regular exercise. RESULTS This study showed that having knowledge of exercise benefits (P-value= 0.001) an opportunity to socialize (P-value= 0.001) was statistically associated with regular exercise. Similarly, younger age (P- value= 0.02), high educational attainment (P-value= 0.03), being of white race (P -value= 0.04) were the main motivators to regular exercise. In contrast, poor health (P-value=0.001) and lack of knowledge of exercise benefits (P-value=0.001) were the major barriers to regular exercise. CONCLUSION Increasing residents’ knowledge of the benefits of regular exercise, opportunity for socialization and providing support to elderly people are crucial in increasing the uptake and maintenance of regular exercise among elderly people living in old age homes in Ekurhuleni Southern Sub-district.
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Of Master of Family Medicine Johannesburg, July 2014
Keywords
Citation
Collections