‘There’s Just Something Really Peaceful About It’: a Qualitative Exploration of Mothers with Young Children and Engagement in Group-Based Physical Activity Programs

Abstract

Background Many mothers with young children often do not achieve recommendations of at least 150-min moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each week. Previous qualitative work has generally focused on getting inactive mothers with young children to be active, so the characteristics of women who are active during early postpartum period are not well understood. This research set out to capture the characteristics of mothers with young children who engage in MVPA and how these women manage barriers and harness enablers to sustain in engagement in physical activity (PA) over an extended period. Method Thirty-two participants ranging in age from 27 to 42 years (35.2 ± 4.8), with age of their youngest child ranging from 6 weeks old to 5 years, participated in semi-structured interviews. Results Inductive thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes and fourteen sub-themes relating to the characteristics of active mothers with young children and the engagement and maintenance factors that recruit and sustain these women in group-based physical activity programs. Specifically, mothers with young children relish a welcoming and supportive environment that accommodates babies and young children, is affordable and convenient, focuses on building strength and functionality, and is non-judgmental. Conclusion These findings advance knowledge by providing considerations and recommendations that support intervention and program designers to be able to develop group-based physical activity programs for mothers with young children.

Moms on the move: A qualitative exploration of a postpartum group exercise program on physical activity behaviour at three distinct time points

“…Additional findings from participant interviews were that programming for this population should be highly flexible with multiple times throughout the day due to changing demands with infant development. As well, greater emphasis should be placed on postpartum pelvic health in program design, a similar recommendation as found in Peralta et al ( 2022 ) with mothers of young children. As demands on mothers rapidly change and many mothers return to work, future research should assess the benefits of providing ongoing physical activity support throughout postpartum and beyond.…”

“…It has previously been shown that women in the postpartum transition require comprehensive care that enables new coping skills and adaptation (Ospina Romero et al, 2012 ). It appears that group-based physical activity programming may be a way of assisting new mothers with learning valuable skills to thrive in the postpartum period and may be in line with what has been shown to be of value to new mothers (Finlayson et al, 2020 ; Peralta et al, 2022 ). A qualitative study looking at group-based physical activity engagement of mothers with young children found that there was a requirement for: face-to-face sessions, convenient locations, appropriate timing, catering to babies and children, and a welcoming group environment to encourage continual physical activity (Peralta et al, 2022 ).…”

“…It appears that group-based physical activity programming may be a way of assisting new mothers with learning valuable skills to thrive in the postpartum period and may be in line with what has been shown to be of value to new mothers (Finlayson et al, 2020 ; Peralta et al, 2022 ). A qualitative study looking at group-based physical activity engagement of mothers with young children found that there was a requirement for: face-to-face sessions, convenient locations, appropriate timing, catering to babies and children, and a welcoming group environment to encourage continual physical activity (Peralta et al, 2022 ). This is further in line with our findings that the social and group connectedness of the program was highly valuable to participants.…”

“…The lack of knowledge regarding physical activity levels of this population pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy and post pregnancy is a further limitation of this study as we cannot comment on the history and physical activity identity of our participants. Other studies have found that women may limit their engagement in mother and baby exercise classes if they were concerned about the environment not being inclusive (Liva et al, 2021 ; Peralta et al, 2022 ). Given the importance of group cohesion in group exercise dynamics, it may be important to develop postpartum physical activity groups based on similarity to promote inclusivity.…”

“…In addition, there is low confidence around physical activity engagement in a changed body (Makama et al, 2021 ) and physical activity competence is further impacted as mothers experience identity conflict within the motherhood identity (McGannon & McMahon, 2018 ). Factors which have been shown to improve success in group-based physical activity postpartum have included a supportive, non-judgemental environment, allowance for the inclusion of children, and programming provision, which focuses on strength and function (Peralta et al, 2022 ). When these facilitators are at the forefront of exercise provisions, postpartum women have been shown to have positive improvements in mental well-being (Hatfield et al, 2022 ).…”