Reasons of exercise and no-exercise in the young-old elderly in Tambon Salaya, Nakhon Pathom

Abstract

Objective: To explore the causal factors which are the reasons of exercise and non-exercise and the potential strategies to promote exercise in the young-old elderly. Method: The focus group discussion was a main method. Observation and in-depth interview were employed. Participants were Thai elderly aged 60-69 years, residing in Tambon Salaya. Focus group discussion was conducted with 12 groups. Participants were allocated into groups by genders and exercise behavior. Those allocated into exercise group had to report exercise behavior fitting to the recommendation by American College of Sports Medicine. Questions covered 4 main issues which were perception of exercise, facilitating factors and barriers of exercise, and potential strategies to promote exercise. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. Results: Motivation and attitude to exercise, routinely exercise, and early-life experience about exercise were found to be individual factors to facilitate exercise. External factors which were social network and support as well as accessibility and availability were also expressed to have facilitating effects. Exercise benefits were recognized as a reward making exercise sustainable. Meanwhile, a range of factors were found to be barriers. Time constraint, perception and attitude to exercise, and health problems were cited to be barriers. Lack of social network and difficulty in transportation were perceived as external barriers. Adverse experience of exercise was cited to block the continuation of exercise. Conclusions: A range of causal factors cover from individual to external factors found in this study can explain why some elderly adopt exercise behavior as health-promoting behavior and why some elderly do not. In this study, suggestion of strategies to promote exercise was provided based on the findings.