A QUALITATIVE STUDY by NYLA WAMBOLD
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SELF-EFFICACY OF PHYSICALLY FIT SENIORS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors WAMBOLD, NYLA Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 18:35:45 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613750 Running Head: PHYSICALLY FIT SENIORS SELF-EFFICACY OF PHYSICALLY FIT SENIORS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY By NYLA WAMBOLD --------------------------------------------------- A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelor’s Degree With Honors in Psychology THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA M A Y 2 0 1 6 Approved by: Dr. Anne Bowen, Ph.D Department of Psychology PHYSICALLY-FIT SENIORS 2 Abstract On average, a person’s physical fitness and health will begin to decline in his/her late twenties to early thirties (Kail, 2010). While the numerous benefits of physical activity is well-known, only 40.7% of 60-69 year olds and 23.4% of adults over 80 continue to be active (Carlson, et al., 2015). Through the use of qualitative research, this study aimed to identify the motivations, facilitators/barriers, and strategies of seniors (ages 60+) who maintain a physically fit lifestyle. Eight participants (4 male, 4 female) were recruited using flyers and snowball sampling. Activities included swimming, CrossFit training, running, hiking, cycling, and equestrian riding. The participants were each interviewed and asked questions regarding their training procedures, typical daily activities, age-related limitations, motivations, and perceived benefits. Each interview recording was transcribed and coded for themes. The primary themes that emerged described the motivations for being fit, the initiative of taking charge of one’s own health, and the recommendations of maintaining s physically fit lifestyle. The challenges that seniors face include: pain, physical barriers, health care providers who fail to recommend exercise and lack of knowledge (Schutzer & Graves, 2004). The long term goals of our research include identifying ways to help active seniors continue to exercise, helping inactive seniors increase their exercise, and identifying useful training strategies for athletic trainers. PHYSICALLY-FIT SENIORS 3 Self-Efficacy in the Physically-Fit Elderly Population A Qualitative Study A typical human reaches his or her peak in physical fitness and health around the age of late twenties to early thirties (Kail, 2010). As people age, they often find that their lifestyles have made it difficult to keep up with an exercise routine. Some factors may include busy schedules, aches and pains or other more serious physical limitations, and lack of knowledge or interest in physical fitness. Different levels of physical fitness have direct effects on health. One way to observe this is through maximal aerobic capacity, which is a measure of the maximum rate of oxygen consumption during incremental exercise. In his study on “Aerobic Fitness Norms for Males and Females aged 6-75 Years,” Dr. E. Shvartz found that the average person has a peak of maximal aerobic capacity of 2.8L/min around 18 years of age, and that it continually declines as the person grows older. By age 75, this value drops to 1.35L/min. Despite the exercise level of the average person declining as they reach elderly level, there are still the exceptions who continue to remain physically active well into their senior-aged years. Fauja Singh, who lives in London, is a 105-year-old example of this. Though physically active since childhood, Singh began seriously competing in races during his 90s. Since then, he has competed in 3 half-marathons and 8 marathons, with a marathon time record of 5 hours and 40 minutes. His last official run was a 10k in 2013 at the age of 101 (Morley, 2013). Though this is an extreme example, our research question focuses primarily on what these exceptions, such as Singh, do differently from their peers in the same age group, and why do they choose to live like this? By 2020, one in four Americans will be older than 60 years of age (Napolitano, 2005). Although there is a vast amount of research on the positive benefits that physical activity has on PHYSICALLY-FIT SENIORS 4 health, there is less that is specifically concentrated on the senior population (ages 60 and older). And of this research, there is even less focused on the lifestyles, habits, and routines of elderly people who do successfully maintain a physically active lifestyle. The challenges that seniors face include: pain, physical barriers, health care providers who fail to recommend exercise and lack of knowledge (Schutzer & Graves, 2004). It is important to conduct research on the lifestyle routines of physically fit seniors in order to bring education and awareness to seniors who may currently be living an inactive lifestyle but desire to begin exercising regularly. The effects of physical activity could make profound impacts on the physical health and psychological well- being of seniors. As a qualitative study, the research was comprehensive on a broader scope and used to generate leads and ideas. Lacking the numerical computations, the results were more so descriptive than predictive. In fact, predicting a specific hypothesis could have been detrimental to the study as it might have led to biased procedures and methods. The study used grounded theory, meaning researchers investigated results that offered an explanation of a topic of interest (maintenance of physically fit lifestyles) in a certain population (seniors aged 65+). More specifically, intensity sampling was conducted because the data collected from these uncommon cases of senior athletes were used to help understand how the more typical situations of inactive seniors could be affected (Ulin et al., 2005). In-depth data collection was conducted with a small number of participants. Researchers recruited active senior participants, conducted interviews, and coded the responses into themes in order to discover explanations and results as they arose. Methods Participants PHYSICALLY-FIT SENIORS 5 Eight seniors, ranging from ages 60 to 79 participated in this study. The 4 males and 4 females all lived in the Tucson, Arizona, area. Researchers designed and printed flyers and, with the permission of the business owners, posted them at several establishments in Tucson, such as fitness gyms, bike shops, etc. After the initial participants responded to the flyers, the snowball sampling strategy was used, as teammates and friends of the existing participants came forward offering their involvement. Participants were screened using an age minimum of 60 years, and a requirement that they must have been physically active for at least 3 years prior to the study. For the purposes of this study, “physically active” was defined as participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 12 hours per week. The study did not limit the type of sport, which included varieties such as swimming, triathlon training, CrossFit training, running, hiking, equestrian riding, and cycling. There was no compensation for participant involvement. Study Design and Procedures This study used the research method of grounded theory. As a qualitative study, it aimed to begin on a broader scale with open-ended questions, and move toward more specific data as detailed information emerged (Ulin et al., 2005). Participants who responded to the recruitment flyers were screened and any questions they had regarding the study were answered. After giving informed consent (appendix A), they met with a researcher for an interview (lasting approx. 1 hour), in which they were asked a series of open-ended questions regarding their physically fit lifestyles. The interviews were recorded. Afterward, participants were debriefed. Each interview was transcribed (Appendix B) and coded for emerging themes. Stimuli and Measures The interview locations were flexible. Most took place in the setting of the University of Arizona’s Health Psychology lab, but some took place at a site more convenient to the PHYSICALLY-FIT SENIORS 6 participant, such as their own office and a coffee shop. There is no evidence to indicate that the location of the interview affected the data collected. Because human behavior emerges nonlinearly, a flexible and integrated approach is essential for researchers to understand more complex features of the data. Therefore, this study used the interview guide approach, meaning that the topics to be covered were planned in advance and written in outline form for the interviewer to refer to, but the wording and sequence of the questions varied throughout the course of the interviews (Ulin et al., 2005): • What is your history with physical fitness? When and why did you begin to live this lifestyle? • Were your reasons health-related, hobby/social, etc.? • How have your training techniques changed over the years? • Are there certain exercises that you were once able to do and now you cannot? • Have your interests in different types of physical activity changed? • Walk me through a typical day of yours • When do you exercise and for how long? • What is your diet like? Do you take any vitamins or supplements? • Current physical activity • Do you have a trainer? How