Understanding impediments and enablers to physical activity among African American adults: a systematic review of qualitative studies

Abstract

Physical inactivity is a leading cause of premature death, disability and numerous chronic diseases. Minority and underserved populations in the United States and worldwide have a higher prevalence of physical inactivity affecting their morbidity and mortality rates. In the United States, African Americans are less physically active and have a higher proportion of many chronic diseases in comparison to Caucasians. This disparity needs to be well understood in order to design and implement effective interventions aimed at increasing physical activity levels among African Americans. In the present study, we conduct a systematic review (through 2010) of the qualitative literature pertaining to impediments and enablers to physical activity participation among African Americans. This review focuses on qualitative research due to its advantages in understanding attitudes and perceptions related to health behavior within the context of participants' natural environment. Findings are stratified by gender and age, to explore unique impediments and enablers based on age and sex and results are discussed within the socio-ecological model to account for the multi-level nature of factors affecting physical activity. Findings should be taken into account by researchers, program planners and policymakers when tailoring physical activity interventions to African American communities in the United States.

Employing a Participatory Research Approach to Explore Physical Activity among Older African American Women

“…Regarding barriers, a number of personal and environmental factors were found to be barriers to physical activity. These findings are similar to those observed by Mathews et al [20] in a multicultural study conducted among older adults as well as several other studies in the literature [20, 28–31]. For instance, Mathews and colleagues [20] examined physical activity enablers and barriers in a sample of older Americans composed of 6 racial/ethnic groups (i.e., African Americans, American Indians, Latinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Whites).…”

Perceived Barriers to Exercise and Healthy Eating Among Women from Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: Results from a Focus Groups Assessment

“…Lack of time, motivation, and knowledge; health conditions; family responsibilities; cost; and neighborhood safety have been frequently mentioned as barriers (Siddiqi, Tiro, & Shuval, 2011). Few studies have examined barriers to healthy eating in this population (Hargreaves, Schlundt, & Buchowski, 2002; Yeh et al, 2008).…”

Using the social cognitive theory to understand physical activity among dialysis patients.

“…Bivariate analyses also revealed signif icant relationships between gender and physical activity and be tween obesity and physical activity among people being treated with dialysis, specifically that women on dialysis participated in physical activity significantly more than men and those who were obese and on dialysis were less likely to be physically active. Gender differences in physical activity have been previously re ported among various populations; however, most research sup ports men being more active than women (Keating, Guan, Castro, & Bridges, 2005;Seo & Torabi, 2007;Siddiqi, Tiro, & Shuval, 2011). More research needs to be conducted to better understand why women were more active in this population specifically.…”