Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Studies of Muslim Females’ Perceptions of Physical Activity Barriers and Facilitators

Abstract

Muslim women's perceptions of cultural, religious, and secular determinants of physical activity have been studied for many years, with information typically acquired through focus groups or interviews. Multiple reviews synthesizing the research have been published, however, individual studies have not been scrutinized for their quality/rigor. Therefore, I critically appraised the quality of the body of qualitative research studies that utilized focus groups to identify Muslim women's perceptions of physical activity barriers and facilitators. I utilized 26 items from the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) to assess the quality of 56 papers published between 1987 and 2016. Using crosstabulations, I also examined associations between paper quality (low vs. high) and binary categorical variables for impact factor, maximum paper length allowed, publication year, and database the paper was indexed. Overall, papers averaged only 10.5 of 26 COREQ reporting criteria and only two out of 26 items were reported in more than 75% of the papers. Paper quality was not associated with impact factor and length. High quality papers were more likely published more recently (i.e., 2011 or later) and in journals indexed in the PubMed database compared to low quality papers. There is contention among qualitative researchers about standardizing reporting criteria, and while the trend in quality appears to be improving, journal reviewers and editors ought to hold authors to greater accountability in reporting.

A cross-sectional study on the perceived barriers to physical exercise among women in Iraqi Kurdistan Region

“…Interventions to encourage the engagement of Muslim women in physical exercise should address the multiple layers of the socioecological model to redress the main barriers at different levels. These different levels of barriers include intrapersonal barriers, such as lack of self-efficacy, motivation, and knowledge; interpersonal barriers, such as lack of social support; and environmental barriers, such as lack of affordable facilities appropriate for the cultural and religious beliefs regarding the participation of women with gender-sensitive and modest dress [ 35 ].…”

Factors facilitating and hindering South Asian immigrant adults from engaging in exercise and physical activity – a qualitative systematic review

“…In some studies, there was a lack of transparency on how the data was analysed and its underpinning theory. The two studies [26,45] with the lowest scores were deemed to have poor reporting of their studies and were excluded from the analyses and results [46].…”

The design and impact of culturally-safe community-based physical activity promotion for immigrant women: descriptive review

“…A systematic review of 22 studies published since 2000 identified numerous determinants of PA participation among immigrant women including individual (lack of time, health status, motivation), familial (family support) and environmental (seasonality, neighbourhood, social support) factors [ 9 ]. Other studies involving qualitative interviews revealed that gender (sacrifice self-care for household/family), culture (PA not encouraged) and socioeconomic (low-paying/multiple jobs) factors contribute to low PA rates among immigrant women [ 10 , 11 ]. Immigrant women are also hard-to-reach due to low help-seeking arising from mistrust of healthcare providers and poor healthcare experiences [ 12 ].…”