When Working Out Works Out: Program Administrators’ Perspectives on Seniors’ Exercise Participation

ABSTRACT

This study examined factors that inhibit and promote exercise engagement from the perspective of individuals who administer exercise programming for seniors in a region of Canada with a large and diverse immigrant population. Eight focus group discussions about exercise and aging were examined using thematic analysis. A socioecological framework was applied to develop cross-cutting themes about factors that promote seniors’ exercise engagement. This study highlights the following as factors to consider when addressing multiple barriers to seniors’ exercise participation: the role of athletic identity in relation to participants’ cumulative life experiences, gender differences, and the importance of offering intergenerational environments. Future research should focus on perceptions of athletic identity among seniors from ethno-culturally diverse communities to examine the role of prior exposure to sport and the views on single-gendered programing.

KEYWORDS:

• Athletic identity
• ethno-culturally diverse communities
• intergenerational activities
• program administrators’ perspectives
• qualitative research
• seniors’ exercise participation
• socioecological framework

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Toronto Scarborough [VPR RCF].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Toronto Scarborough [VPR RCF].