Participant experiences and perceptions of physical activity-enhancing interventions for people with physical impairments and mobility limitations: a meta-synthesis of qualitative research evidence

ABSTRACT

Disabled people face multiple personal, environmental and social barriers that interfere with leading a physically active lifestyle. Thus, there is an urgent need for behaviour change interventions to increase physical activity (PA) by specifically addressing the situations of disabled people, and barriers to participation. This original meta-synthesis of qualitative research was undertaken to explore participants’ experiences and perceptions of PA-enhancing interventions for adults with physical impairments resulting in mobility limitations. Published articles were identified through a rigorous systematic search. Based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 10 articles were included for review. Following a critical appraisal of the articles, methods of thematic synthesis were drawn upon to generate overarching concepts through interpretation and conceptual synthesis. Seven interrelated concepts were constructed representing both components and outcomes of the interventions. These were (i) Diversity of interventions; (ii) Importance of communication; (iii) Need for social support; (iv) Behavioural strategies; (v) Gaining knowledge; (vi) Re-framing thoughts about exercise and the self and (vii) Health and well-being. The results revealed that a combination of informational, social and behavioural interventions is perceived as crucial for PA initiation and maintenance. Furthermore, key elements of effective intervention design and implications for policies and practices to increase PA participation are proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• physical activity
• behaviour change interventions
• meta-synthesis
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The disciplinary divide between how disability is defined and understood stems from debates regarding the conceptual separation of impairment/chronic illness and disability, and contrasting theoretical perspectives between medical sociology (social deviance paradigm) and disability studies (social oppression paradigm). See Thomas (2007, 2012) for detailed discussions on this debate.

2. Based upon our understanding of the literature on PA interventions for disabled people, we included impairments (conditions and chronic illnesses) which result in mobility limitations and subsequent restrictions on PA participation. As outlined in the introduction, through the social relational model of disability, these restrictions can be both physical (e.g., impairment effects) and social (e.g., disablism) (Thomas, 2007, 2012).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant number 895-2013-1021) for the Canadian Disability Participation Project (www.cdpp.ca).