“Take a minute (or 60) to focus on yourself”: Using autophotography to explore postpartum physical activity experiences and associated psychological constructs

Abstract

The demands of motherhood have been shown to negatively impact physical activity (PA) engagement. Participants in a larger PA-based study in British Columbia, Canada were invited to participate in this sub study. Forty-eight photos and descriptions were provided by 9 participants with infants 3–7 months of age. Photos depicted challenges with PA, PA self-efficacy, body image and self-compassion in motherhood. We noted four themes that reflected the complex and gendered nature of postpartum PA engagement. First, gendered expectations of motherhood placed demands on time and space for PA engagement. Second, how mothers felt about their bodies both positively and negatively impacted their sense of self and PA engagement. Third, moments of self-compassion illustrated how navigating feelings of self-compassion about PA was messy. Fourth, PA self-efficacy was essential and required reimagining PA within the constraints of motherhood. In conclusion, PA postpartum is complex and impacted by broader concepts related to the expected duties of motherhood.

Introduction

Physical activity (PA) of 150 minutes or more per week is recommended to promote the physical and mental well-being of the general population (World Health Organization, 2020). Despite these recommendations, the demands of motherhood have been shown to negatively impact engagement in PA (Evenson et al., 2012) often due to the expectations of motherhood and its prioritization (McGannon and Schinke, 2013). Additional factors that may negatively impact a mother’s engagement in PA include time and childcare constraints (Evenson et al., 2009), lack of support (Ritondo et al., 2024; Saligheh et al., 2016), low self-efficacy (Mailey et al., 2014) and body image dissatisfaction (Raspovic et al., 2022). Furthermore, low PA engagement postpartum has been shown to increase social isolation, depression, and anxiety (Daley et al., 2015). As such, PA following the birth of a child is particularly important, as the first year after childbirth has been shown to be a critical period in women’s health (Saxbe et al., 2018). Given the potential impact of PA on the health of both mothers and their children, further exploration of PA and its challenges in this population is warranted to assist mothers in PA engagement.

After the birth of a child, women are left to adjust to a changed physical body. A dissociation between a women’s body image and their expectation of the ideal body can lead to body dissatisfaction (Cash and Szymanski, 1995), which may have negative psychological ramifications (Clark et al., 2009a). Concerns with one’s body have been shown to persist for the first 5 years of a mother’s life (Clark et al., 2009b). This experience is likely inflated by the societal propagation of the “bounce back” narrative which endorses a fit and thin postpartum body (Prinds et al., 2020). This expectation to reclaim control of one’s body after giving birth has been reported as creating a fearful narrative (Clark et al., 2009b). Mothers may experience both body dissatisfaction and body positivity after the birth of a child (DeLuca and Bustad, 2017) making the understanding of postpartum body image complex. Increasing this complexity is the finding that PA can both positively and negatively impact body image in new mothers (DeLuca and Bustad, 2017). Therefore, further understanding of the role of body image in PA engagement postpartum is warranted.

PA in postpartum women is further impacted by confidence or self-efficacy (i.e. situational-specific self-confidence; Cramp and Bray, 2011). After the birth of a child, self-efficacy may be decreased as women have to re-learn how to engage in PA (Evenson et al., 2009). Low PA self-efficacy may be related to the inadequate advice and/or education provided by maternity care providers to re-establish or begin PA engagement (Ritondo et al., 2024). Efforts to increase PA practice in this population have shown promise, with both group-based PA programing (Hatfield et al., 2022) and behavior change workshops promoting PA (Mailey and Hsu, 2019) positively impacting exercise self-efficacy in this population. Many women note the importance of PA programing specific to new mothers in re-establishing or re-engaging in PA (Lesser et al., 2023b) . However, further understanding of PA promotion efforts in the postpartum population and their impact on confidence and support for PA engagement is needed to best support this at-risk population.

Despite these barriers to PA engagement in the postpartum period, there are opportunities for assisting mothers in PA after the birth of a child. Amid the chaos of new motherhood, self-compassion has been shown to be associated with taking time for health-promoting behaviors (Simpson et al., 2022). Self-compassion is defined through three facets which are (a) self-kindness, the ability to be kind and understanding to oneself during times of stress and failure, (b) common humanity, the ability to recognize challenges as part of the shared human experience, and (c) mindfulness, the ability to have an open and non-judgmental stance toward oneself and suffering (Neff, 2003). Higher self-compassion has been seen in mothers who are more active in the postpartum period (Lesser et al., 2023b; Simpson et al., 2022) while those with lower self-compassion may experience guilt in prioritizing PA in motherhood (Miller and Strachan, 2020). Whether PA interventions in the postpartum population may impact individual self-compassion is yet to be fully elucidated and, therefore, needs further investigation.

As more researchers have begun to investigate the barriers and facilitators surrounding postpartum PA, limited work has used visual methods to unpack their experiences to better understand mental well-being. To fill this gap, we used autophotography as a visual method to center postpartum women’s voices while understanding their experiences with PA and associated psychological constructs. This creative method encourages participants to be in the driver’s seat of their own story by facilitating participant empowerment as they share photographs representing their world and realities (Noland, 2006). Our past research (Bean et al., 2023) used this method to explore postpartum women’s experiences with PA. Findings revealed that PA engagement facilitated feelings of empowerment and identity connection, which helped heal participants’ post-childbirth bodies and minds. However, postpartum women also had to navigate many obstacles to be active and they were required to adapt most of their PA to or around motherhood. While this study contributed to the broader literature, a limitation of this work was that participants were asked to represent their postpartum PA experiences with one photo. To expand upon our previous work, we utilized the present study to address this gap by asking postpartum women to share multiple photographs to illustrate various dimensions of their PA experiences. Additionally, for this study, we provided PA opportunities to postpartum women within their first 6 months post-childbirth, compared to our previous study which recruited a broad population of women who described themselves as postpartum. As participants engaged in these PA opportunities, we asked them to submit photos regarding barriers to PA participation, body image, self-efficacy, self-compassion, and their overall experiences with the PA programs related to the study. These dimensions were intentionally selected to explore because, as indicated in our review of the literature, they are often cited as inhibitors to PA participation postpartum. As such, the purpose of this study was to use autophotography to explore the complexities of postpartum women’s PA experiences due to its potential impact on mental well-being. Specifically, we sought to understand their PA experiences concerning barriers and challenges to PA, body image, self-compassion, and self-efficacy toward PA.

Methods

Study context

Our study was part of a larger randomized PA -based pragmatic intervention for postpartum women that included three groups (n = 43): (a) in-person group-based mind-body PA programing, (b) online asynchronous mind-body PA programing, and (c) an educational control group (received a guidebook about returning to PA after the birth of a child). The mind-body PA program was the BodyBalance™ program created by LesMills International and is a blend of yoga, tai chi and Pilates ending in meditation. The program was 55 minutes long and aimed to be completed twice weekly over 12 weeks. The program was taught by certified instructors and was not modified specifically for the postpartum population. Through the larger project, we (and others) used a multi-method approach to better understand the individual experiences of mothers who participated, as it relates to both physiological (e.g. heart rate variability) and psychological (e.g. self-compassion) variables.

Participants and procedure

Participants were part of the larger aforementioned study and were eligible for this study if they had an infant less than 6 months of age, were cleared to engage in PA by their physician, and had participated in the above intervention. The study took place in a small city in British Columbia, Canada. The research protocol was approved by the authors’ institutional research ethics boards. Interested participants were asked to complete an online informed consent form independent of the larger research trial. Participants completed an online survey (SurveyMonkey), which included two parts (a) demographic variables (e.g. age, number of children, child’s age at the time of submission, ethnicity) and (b) the autophotography portion of the study.

Nine women agreed to participate in this study representing 21% participation from the larger randomized controlled trial. Of those who participated, four were in the in-person group-based mind-body PA program, two were in the online asynchronous mind-body PA program, and two were in the educational control group. It should be noted that one participant did not provide an identifier, so it is unknown which intervention arm they were in. The average age of participants was 33.1 (SD = 3.8). All participants identified as white with European ancestry and the average age of their infant at the time of study completion was 5.67 months (Range (3–7 months)). Of the nine participants who engaged, three had one child, four had two children, and one had three children. On average the adherence rate to the in-person and online programs was 59% (14 out of 24 classes offered) and 50% (12 out of 24 classes requested) respectively. Participants lived within commuting distance to the in-person group-based PA program took place.

Autophotography

Autophotography is a method that captures participants’ worlds and conveys their experiences to readers and researchers through photographs (Glaw et al., 2017) further granting agency to participants to decide how their story is conveyed and represented in the visuals they share (Thomas, 2009). As part of the survey, we asked participants to submit digital photographs or artifacts (hereafter referred to as photos) representing themselves and their experiences with PA and motherhood. Participants were given the following preamble to assist them in what were considered photos:

We ask that you share up to five meaningful photos or artifacts that you associate with your PA engagement through this movement intervention based on the topics outlined below. An artifact can be an item or object (e.g., a running shoe, yoga mat, race registration and/or medal). If you chose an artifact, feel free to take a photo of it.

To extend the limitations of previous work in this area, participants were asked to reflect on the following five constructs: (a) challenges and barriers to PA, (b) body image, (c) self-compassion, (d) PA self-efficacy, and (e) their overall experiences in the postpartum period (up to 9 months postpartum based on when the study ended enrollment). Such constructs were selected based on a review of recent research in this area (see Table 1). Participants then submitted photos that they felt represented their experiences with each construct and its relation to PA and motherhood. Participants were invited to engage in this study 6 weeks into the 12-week intervention, so they had time to decide if they wished to participate and think about gathering relevant photos. Participants had up to 3 months after the intervention ended to complete the study. Within the study protocol, participants were asked to ensure that photos did not reveal faces to reduce the likelihood of personal identification.

Table 1.

Autophotography constructs and associated text to support imagery submission.

Constructs	Supporting text	Examples of relevant literature
Challenges and barriers to physical activity	Postpartum women often experience numerous obstacles in attempting to engage in physical activity after the birth of a child.	Evenson et al. (2009), Liva et al. (2021), Mailey et al. (2014), Saligheh et al. (2016)
Body image	Pregnancy and childbirth result in dramatic changes in body shape and size. Many women struggle with their postpartum body after giving birth, while others thrive in their new postpartum body. Engaging in physical activity after the birth of a child can bring about new feelings around body image.	Erbil et al. (2012), Lesser et al. (2023b), Raspovic et al. (2020)
Self-compassion	Motherhood can be a rollercoaster and we tend to be harder on ourselves than we would be on someone else. Treating yourself with kindness and concern as you would a friend is called self-compassion.	Lesser et al., 2023b Miller and Strachan (2020), Simpson et al. (2022)
Physical activity self-efficacy	One’s belief and/or confidence in their ability to successfully engage in physical activity is physical activity self-efficacy.	Cramp and Bray (2011), Hatfield et al. (2022), Lesser et al. (2023a), Liva et al. (2021)
Overall experiences in the postpartum period	The first year of motherhood can be a rollercoaster with many ups and downs.	Lesser et al. (2023a, 2023b)

In addition to submitting relevant photos via the survey platform, participants were asked to provide a short textual description of each photo. The following prompt guided their writing:

Provide a 2-3 sentence description of the photo/artifact explaining what it is and how it represents your confidence in engaging in the PA intervention.

Forty-eight photos and associated descriptions were provided by participants (eight women shared five photos and text (one photo per prompt), and one woman shared three photos and text).

Data analysis and representation

Photos and their descriptions were exported to a Microsoft Excel file and sorted by construct. Aligned with social constructivist feminism, reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2019) guided our photos and text analysis. This approach allowed us to embrace our experiences as researchers, PA engagers, and mothers and acknowledge their contribution to our interpretation of the data, generating the co-creation of knowledge with participant experiences (Hesse-Bibe, 2012). We conducted two rounds of data analysis inspired by Braun and Clarke’s (2019) reflexive thematic analysis. Notably, although participants submitted photos to match specific categories, we analyzed the dataset as a whole for themes woven throughout participants’ words and photos to align with the principles of thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2019). First, we met as a group to discuss the submissions and familiarize ourselves with the data. We then individually analyzed the photos and text as one submission, the photos separately, and the text separately to generate initial codes. Data were analyzed inductively and reflexively based on our experiences as researchers in this field, athletes/PA engagers, and parents or non-parents. In the second round of analysis, we met as a team to analyze the codes through a feminist lens, which allowed us to unpack the complex intersections between the social and cultural gendered expectations surrounding motherhood and PA.

We chose to create one panel of select photos per theme to juxtapose the diversity, yet similarity and relatability of the imagery participants chose to share. Photos were selected based on preserving participant and child anonymity and avoiding copyright infringement issues with illustrations, and stock photos. This form of data representation was inspired by Bancroft’s (2018) braided narrative (Bancroft, 2018), where the overlapping of narratives was used to emphasize their similarities, differences, and connections (Boluk et al., 2023).

Researcher positionality

The first author is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology at a Canadian University and is a white, heterosexual, third-generation Canadian woman living without a disability. At the time of data collection, she had two young children and regularly engaged in PA. The second author is a white, heterosexual, third-generation Canadian woman, who is an Associate Professor in a recreation and leisure department at a Canadian University, living without a disability. At the time of data collection, she had one toddler and was a former varsity athlete with a strong PA identity. The third author is a white, married, second-generation Canadian woman without a disability who is completing her doctoral studies at a Canadian University in a health sciences department. She is a competitive beach volleyball player, and has no children, but is passionate about critically examining the social changes that accompany having children. While the first two authors previously identified as athletes, they now engage in PA for leisure and to support their well-being. Engagement in this study and broader PA studies we have conducted with postpartum women is formed by motherhood, PA identity and our educational backgrounds. In keeping with the constructivist paradigm, we are inherently part of all aspects of the research conducted and cannot fully separate our own lived experiences from the research.

Trustworthiness and study quality

We followed several steps to ensure trustworthiness and quality throughout the entirety of our research project. Our approach to transparency and quality used a relativist approach that viewed Taylor’s (2010) eight “big-tent” criteria as a set of general guidelines from which we could “add or subtract characteristics from the list” (Smith and McGannon, 2018: 116). For this study, the criteria that most closely applied were worthiness of topic, rich rigor, sincerity, resonance, and meaningful coherence.

Findings

Our analysis resulted in four themes that mirrored the topics in which participants submitted photos. Below we open each theme with a panel of submitted photos (see Supplemental files), then discuss how photos in the panel and others submitted by participants make up the theme. We begin with a discussion of (a) duties of motherhood creating challenges, then unpack (b) body image as complex and changing, followed by (c) self-compassion as temporary moments, and finish with (d) reimagining PA in pursuit of self-efficacy.

“Duties” of motherhood creating challenges

When asked about the challenges and barriers to PA, participants frequently described the “motherload” of domestic duties or childcare obligations that impeded their ability or desire to make time for PA. Amanda shared a stock photo of a mother with multiple hands engaging in different household and childcare tasks, which was representative of the juggling act many participants described. She stated: “There is so much as a mom to juggle and maintain, more times than not myself becomes an insignificant piece.” Ashley’s panel photo shows her home littered with infant toys and activity mats surrounded by laundry. She described how this scene impairs her motivation to focus on relaxing and taking time for herself to be physically active: “Mess to clean up, chores around the home that need to be done. It makes me feel stressed and unable to relax.” Samantha echoed how the ongoing shadow of domestic duties impeded her PA. Her picture, also shared in the panel, was of a loaf of bread, stating that required household chores did not take place in silos, but often occurred in conjunction with her role as a mother:

The day-to-day. Keeping up with tasks and chores around the house can be exhausting or overwhelming. This image is a loaf of bread I made with my son and how even in the day-to-day chores, you’re in it together.

As such, participants regularly felt too exhausted once completing domestic duties, that they related to motherhood, to engage in PA, regardless of their desire to be active.

Some participants also explained how the need to make time for PA felt like an additional obligation, further increasing the pressure surrounding the expectations of motherhood. For instance, Amanda shared a cartoon stock image of a woman looking exhausted and wearing a shirt with a low-battery symbol and child’s handprints on it, writing:

Being a mom to an infant and toddler can be exhausting. I prioritize the health and well-being of my children and husband way before I even remember to think about myself. It’s hard to focus on the self and find adequate resources that allow you the space to do so.

Focusing on herself required additional time and resources on top of the responsibilities she felt as a mother. Similarly, Sarah shared a stock photo of a steering wheel covered in post-it notes with the description: “A barrier for me was fitting it [PA] into my schedule and sometimes feeling over-scheduled or obligated.” The planning and expectations regarding PA added to the motherload of obligations that participants felt were weighing them down.

Another commonly shared challenge to PA engagement was the overwhelming demands of infant care. All participants identified as primary caregivers for their infants and older children, which created additional obstacles to being physically active. For example, Sarah shared a photo of her baby crying in a chair with the description: “When the baby is just off, it’s hard for mama to get away. It makes it tough to do anything and makes the days feel long. With a lack of sleep and a grumpy baby … the motivation goes out the door.” The need to attend to their children before their own needs put PA on the back burner. Stephanie related to this sentiment as she wrote about her feelings of frustration and guilt for not engaging in PA:

It makes me feel happy to be able to soothe and comfort my baby in pain, but sad that I put myself on the back burner. [I feel] guilt for not completing a workout.

This sentiment was depicted by Stephanie’s image taken of herself (selfie) where she was holding her sleeping infant in a carrier. Notably, Jennifer was the only participant to share her experiences with being physically active while her baby napped in the room, as depicted in her photo (Figure 1). She credited multitasking to her ability to be physically active: “To me, this photo represents the challenges of finding time to exercise with a young baby. It is often multitasking like in this photo.”

Figure 1.

A panel depicting three pictures related to the challenges motherhood brings to PA engagement. Ashley’s image is of an infant play area surrounded by toys and laundry. Samantha’s image is a home-baked loaf of bread. Jennifer’s image is of a mother doing yoga with her infant and dog present surrounded by toys.

Body image as complex and changing

Mothers submitted a wide array of photos and descriptions about body image and PA, depicting a spectrum of experiences including body dissatisfaction, body acceptance, and body positivity. Those who shared photos about body dissatisfaction reflected feelings of negative thoughts towards their body. As Jessica’s panel photo description explained (Figure 2): “[This was the] first time in a bathing suit in front of friends. I felt very self-conscious then felt horrible after seeing the photo. I feel different than how I actually look.” Brittany further depicted body dissatisfaction by sharing an image of a cooked turkey (Figure 2). She wrote how it represents her external body dissatisfaction not matching how she feels about herself as an individual: “I feel like a Turkey. Not done super well but look okay to eat. You can see the flaws, but the inside is still okay.”

Figure 2.

A panel showing three pictures related to body image, motherhood, and PA engagement. Ashley shared an image of a closet full of clothes. Jessica uploaded a picture of herself in a bathing suit posing in a lake with her baby. Brittany shared an image of a roasted turkey on a stove.

Similarly, Amanda submitted an illustration depicting a postpartum mother thanking her friend for a compliment about her body, while a large thought bubble describes her internal monolog of shame and exhaustion as she compares her body to her friend’s body:

I am proud of my body and the miraculous ability to care for and birth children. However, I am bombarded with thoughts of shame and disgust with how my body looks and feels but also lack the desire to do anything about it with a lack of time, space, or mental capacity.

Participants’ experiences of negative body image regularly oscillated between feeling good and proud of themselves on the inside but disconnected and discouraged by their physical appearance. Additionally, fluctuating between clothing sizes negatively impacted participants’ body image as Ashley’s panel photo was of her wardrobe. The description shared:

Postpartum clothes are too big, but my regular clothes don’t fit right anymore. I feel frustrated in what I wear and most of the clothes are spit up on or dirty from kids anyways. It makes me feel lost in my body and who I am.

Many stories about body dissatisfaction illustrated an undulation of feelings about participants’ bodies, both reflexive of their changing bodies and changing identities.

Some participants expressed feeling body acceptance, wherein they were accepting of the changes brought on by childbirth. Samantha shared an image of a wooden spoon to represent how her thoughts switched between body acceptance and body dissatisfaction throughout the day:

This photo is of a wooden spoon. It’s tough, it takes on many tasks throughout the day. At the beginning, it is strong and sturdy, but by the end of the task, it can become soft and agile. Soaked up and more pliable. I feel I relate to this because most days I start out firm, strong, and light. Other days I see myself in a darker light, soaked, bloated, and heavy.

Other participants described using clothing to move toward a place of body acceptance. Stephanie shared a selfie of her wearing an outfit for her first date night after having her second baby, explaining its significance: “I struggled to feel confident in anything I put on. Since this photo, I have worked to get items in my wardrobe that make me feel confident and flatter my new body.” Body acceptance was a complicated goal for many participants to work toward that required compromise, acceptance of change, or assistance from external sources like clothing.

Finally, two participants shared images of body positivity when asked about their experiences surrounding body image, motherhood, and PA. Sarah shared a stock photo of a woman in a kitchen, dressed in an apron and hair curlers, posed as Rosy the Riveter. Her description reads: “I am the strongest and healthiest I’ve ever been during pregnancy and postpartum, so I feel great about what my body has allowed me to do and accomplish. I am so grateful to it.” Further, Jennifer’s photo was of her lying in a yoga pose beside her dog and infant in a “moment I was feeling good about my body. I felt strong, relaxed, and confident. I was proud of the progress I had made strength wise and the nourishment I have provided to my baby.” Both depictions of body positivity reflected a connection between strength and motherhood.

Self-compassion as temporary moments

Regarding participants’ experiences with self-compassion and PA, self-compassion was regularly reflected in small moments during their lives. At times they depicted moments of celebration and acceptance, as Jennifer’s panel photo shows her sitting with her children in nature which she described as (Figure 3): “A moment on the [location] where I was able to sit down, enjoy the view and honor myself. I have been learning it’s ok[ay] to take things slow and celebrate small successes.” Similarly, Sarah uploaded a stock photo of a mother caressing her baby in nature with emboldened text written above them reading: “The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, but children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs: Dust to go to sleep! I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.” She explained how this image served as a reminder to celebrate and be compassionate about her experiences in motherhood. As such, these participants shared how self-celebration and reflection helped them experience a sense of self-compassion.

Figure 3.

A panel with three pictures related to self-compassion and motherhood. The first image Brittany submitted is of a large take-out plate of sushi. The second image is of Jennifer and her children looking at a body of water in nature. The third image submitted by Stephanie shows her older child playing on a tablet in a library.

Many participants illustrated self-compassion as taking a moment to treat themselves, rather than their children, as Jessica’s selfie depicted her freshly cut hair that she described as “feeling renewed.” Relatedly, Ashley shared a stock photo of a Starbucks coffee cup as the quote read: “Sometimes a treat helps get through the day and often for me that’s coffee. It’s time to myself and gives me a little pick me up.” Brittany also chose to illustrate her experience of self-compassion with a photo of food. As her panel image illustrates, a large sushi platter under which she wrote: “This is a treat. A date night in. Although it’s tough to get out we decided to order in and just enjoy a treat for us.” For these participants, self-compassion meant taking a moment or purchasing something (i.e. experiences, items) for themselves, as a special treat.

Another way self-compassion was conceived by participants was by minimizing their parenting responsibilities, leaving the space of their home, and enjoying time with their infant. Stephanie’s description of her panel photo (Figure 3) showing a child reading a tablet at the library said:

I had a million things I needed and wanted to do but opted to give myself grace and take my older daughter out to story time for something fun. I took this photo as I stood back and watched her “read” and hoped that she could give herself the same grace she gave me when I was struggling.

Notably, not all participants shared experiencing self-compassion. Amanda uploaded an illustration of a faceless woman looking in the mirror with a speech bubble saying, “It’s okay.” She explained how self-compassion was not present in her life: “For the most part there is a lack when it comes to self-compassion. There are more thoughts of doubt, failure, and shame. The kind words of others help sometimes.” This sentiment illustrates how not all mothers can experience self-compassion on their own, and at times benefit from external support.

Reimagining PA in pursuit of self-efficacy

When asked about self-efficacy surrounding PA, participants reflected on how confidence contributed to their PA engagement postpartum. Participants often described the importance of fitting in small amounts of PA and how good it felt to be active in short bouts. Moreover, Samantha’s panel photo was of her dog who she attributed as helping her feel accountable to do small, regular amounts of PA to improve her well-being (Figure 4):

Doing this study has helped me be more active in my day to day. I believe my body deserves it, and if I’m having a bad day, at the very least my dog deserves even a small walk around the neighbourhood.

Figure 4.

A panel with three pictures illustrating self-efficacy, motherhood, and PA. Samantha submitted a photo of a dog beside a river. Stephanie showed a selfie of herself on a running track with her stroller. Brittany submitted a photo of a red car covered in snow beside a tree in an empty parking lot.

Relatedly, Amanda expressed how engaging in a weekly PA program contributed to her confidence and affirmed her capability of being regularly physically active:

I have high expectations of what I should be capable of and in most cases that helps me to strive. In most cases, I lack the self-discipline to stay on track, and this study forced expectations on myself to stay dedicated to this small bout of self-care and well-being.

She expressed this by sharing a clipart illustration of a woman smiling with her arms in a flexing position showing her strength.

Jennifer also expressed how she now had the self-efficacy to complete a hike with her family while sharing a photo of herself and her infant looking out onto a body of water. The description read: “Peaceful and proud of what I have accomplished! This was a long and challenging hike I was able to do with my family due to the hard work and self-care I have put in the last few months!.” Further, Samantha explained how regular PA classes gave her confidence in other aspects of motherhood:

These past months have flown by but the consistency of doing yoga has been an awesome experience to discover your ability to take a minute (or 60) to focus on yourself, how well you can leave the house, how forgiving the class is on time management (as in not strict, just show up when possible). It’s been nice to experience this without backlash or judgment as everyone is in the same boat as you.

She illustrated her experience by symbolizing the passage of time with her son’s baby feet in a clay mold. As such, PA self-efficacy experienced in the intervention’s mind-body PA programing extended to other parts of participants’ lives.

It is important to note, however, that not all participants felt that regular PA improved self-efficacy. Brittany shared that her PA engagement during this time was disappointing and felt like a snowstorm. She chose an image of a car covered in snow to illustrate how she felt and described it with: “here I am 6 months later feeling discouraged, out of shape, and mentally overrun due to lack of sleep and motivation.” This participant’s reflection shows that PA is just one piece of the rollercoaster of early motherhood, whereby self-efficacy and PA engagement is an individual process that does not have universal application to the postpartum experience.

Discussion

The purpose of this project was to use autophotography to explore the PA experiences of postpartum women surrounding motherhood and associated psychological constructs that may impact PA engagement in this population (i.e. self-compassion, body image, and self-efficacy). Nine participants visually represented their experiences through up to 5 photos each and provided descriptions that depicted the complexities of engaging in PA as a postpartum mother. Our study built on existing research that has explored pregnant (Nash, 2012) and postpartum women’s (Nash, 2014) experiences using autophotography, and more specifically sharing imagery related to their PA engagement (Bean et al., 2023). We found that discussions surrounding PA and the associated explored constructs were connected to broader concepts and challenges related to the expected duties of motherhood as normalized in Western society. We also found that conceptualizations of body image were complex and changing, that self-compassion was found in temporary moments, and PA was reimagined in the pursuit of PA self-efficacy.

Given the ideologies shaping societal expectations in the postpartum period (i.e. intensive mothering, the bounce-back narrative), this approach may allow for a more unfiltered portrayal of the experience of PA postpartum (Bean et al., 2023). Notably, we found that participants often submitted photos that fell under multiple topics. For example, body image issues were both a barrier to PA and related to feelings of self-compassion. We believe this spoke to how postpartum women’s experiences, roles, and responsibilities are rarely siloed into one identity or facet of their life (McGannon et al., 2018) and reinforced the complexity of engaging in postpartum PA (Ritondo et al., 2024). Additionally, 10 of the 48 photos participants submitted were stock images or comics that shared inspirational quotes, conversations, or phrases that were relatable to motherhood. We stipulated that using clipart with other people’s words may create a sense of solidarity or validation between participants and the content creator, as participants saw their experiences in other’s stories, which furthers the emancipatory nature of this method.

Photos submitted often reflected the demands of domestic responsibilities; cooking and cleaning were seen by participants as their responsibility if at home with an infant. It is interesting to note that in a study asking participants to reflect on PA and motherhood, there was a broader depiction of motherhood as a whole and the challenges of surviving and navigating gendered roles and expectations associated with the postpartum phase. Parenthood has been shown to worsen the gap in unpaid domestic work with women taking on much of this responsibility in heterosexual couples (Barnes, 2015). Most participants broadly discussed how their responsibilities surrounding domestic and household labor shaped their PA engagement. Specifically, they connected their “duties” as a mother to housework, which gendered domestic responsibilities like laundry, cleaning, cooking, and childcare. Since most participants shared that they felt responsible for these tasks because they were home caring for children, our findings highlight how participants’ behaviors aligned with patriarchal ideologies dictating the domestic responsibilities and labor of mothers. This further speaks to the socialization of domestic labor as an “inherent” part of motherhood in Western society (McKeown, 2021). Similar findings have been reflected in Ritondo and Trussell’s (2023) work, where women who maintained sport participation postpartum felt they could only engage in PA after the household work was done or the children were asleep to maintain the role of a “perfect mother” (Ritondo and Trussell, 2023). This finding supports literature demonstrating how some mothers reduce their PA participation because they feel guilty for taking time for themselves and because they lack time or support to care for their own well-being (Bean and Wimbs, 2021).

Body image and its relation to PA engagement in the postpartum phase was diverse. Two participants reflected positively on their changed bodies and were able to feel self-compassion and acceptance while others felt it challenging to their postpartum bodies. Positive attributes were associated with engaging in PA and feeling strong in one’s body. Body satisfaction has been shown to play a predominant role in positive PA habits postpartum (Raspovic et al., 2022). However, many photo submissions relating to body image were expressed through comics, stock photos, or metaphorical imagery (e.g. a wooden spoon or a turkey) rather than photographs of participants themselves. Participants choosing to show representations of their bodies rather than their actual bodies aligns with previous studies that explored the disconnect postpartum women feel from their body (Bean et al., 2023; Nash, 2014). Participants choosing to not share photos of their bodies also contrasts with the positive body imagery associated with pregnancy and celebrating the baby bump (Nash, 2012). This finding highlights the social stigmas related to inhabiting a body that is not aligned with depictions of Western feminine beauty standards. Women are expected to show how they embody, embrace, and welcome pregnancy (Nash, 2012), a pronatalist and feminine ideological expectation stating that women’s bodies are primarily meant for reproduction (Parry, 2005), and then “bounce-back” to their pre-pregnancy body (Prinds et al., 2020). Rather than showing bodies that resisted these ideologies, many participants decided to share symbolic representations of their bodies, which speaks to the stigma surrounding the postpartum body. It is also important to note that many of the participants’ submissions relating to body image did not include overt connections to PA participation. Yet, underlying tensions relating to PA and body image were reflected in photos submitted to other categories like self-compassion and barriers. This finding speaks to the inability to separate the physical aspects of the body as it relates to PA engagement (body image).

We found that photos submitted to reflect self-compassion depicted the messiness and complexity of this construct when paired with PA experiences. Participants pictured and described PA as essential to well-being and as a highly desirable activity, but the guilt associated with both engaging and not engaging negatively impacted their self-compassion. There was a notable push-pull between their PA identity and identity as a mother, compounded by the responsibilities and expectations associated with motherhood, which may cause psychological strain (Kuipers et al., 2021). Participants seemed to recognize that PA, even in small amounts, was necessary for mental well-being. Others experienced guilt around dedicating time to PA, particularly within a PA intervention where there was a higher expectation of adhering to PA which elicited feelings of failure when not achieved. This need to revisit capacity for PA during the postpartum transition and its current workability was found in the qualitative work of Liva et al. (2021). Like our study, some participants were able to positively pursue PA engagement while others deemed the desired physical activities to be unworkable. An inability to align PA desire with workability may leave postpartum women with negative emotional and physical health repercussions (Liva et al., 2021). We found that self-compassion was inherently important to the motherhood experience and made PA to be more workable. This parallels other research on postpartum women where self-compassion was found to assist women in coping with identity change and engaging in PA (Kullman et al., 2021). The self-compassion domains of self-kindness and mindfulness (Neff, 2003) were reflected in participant discussions of taking time for oneself and rethinking their PA to align with feasibility. Overall, self-compassion was depicted as a moment or a treat and not constant practice. While many women wanted to engage in PA this wasn’t seen as providing self-compassion and the challenges and demands of motherhood overwhelmed the ability to maintain PA engagement.

Self-efficacy, or confidence to engage in PA postpartum, was further discussed in the context of rethinking PA engagement. This notion parallels what has been previously found in the postpartum population (Lesser et al., 2023b; Liva et al., 2021) where even small bouts of PA improved their confidence in PA engagement in motherhood. The experience of engaging in a brief group-based PA program increased exercise self-efficacy as they found that the accountability provided a confidence boost and allowed them to achieve other PA-related goals. Such findings align with similar research that found group-based PA programs for new mothers positively affected their self-efficacy for PA (Hatfield et al., 2022; Peralta et al., 2021).

Limitations

Study limitations must be acknowledged. Our project was part of a larger randomized controlled trial that provided PA to early postpartum women. Therefore, what was depicted by participants in this study was influenced by the type and amount of PA they engaged in as part of this study and their overall experiences with PA. Physical activity, in this instance, likely looked different than what would be broadly found in the postpartum population who were not part of a PA study. However, this process provides depth to the experiences of engaging in PA programing with other mothers in the early postpartum period. Further, due to the demographics of participants in this study (all infants were under 9 months at the time of data collection), findings may not be transferrable to the experiences of mothers later in their motherhood journey, which comes with different milestones and challenges as well as potentially navigating the return to work (Lesser et al., 2023a). Ongoing explorations of postpartum experiences and their relation to PA engagement over a longer timeline are warranted.

Our study added to the literature encompassing motherhood and PA as we used the creative method of autophotography with multiple image submissions. While guidelines and constructs were provided, which shaped participants’ photo submissions, a final opportunity to reflect on the overall experience of PA engagement in early motherhood allowed for broader reflection. We also encouraged participants to submit a variety of imagery (personal photos, artifacts etc.), encouraging them to exercise greater creative license surrounding photo submission. As such, many women chose to submit stock photos, which, as noted earlier, may suggest a sense of common humanity and relatedness in the challenges of motherhood where online imagery represents the experiences of many. However, we were unable to share many of the stock images due to copyright infringements and, therefore, they were solely shared through descriptive text.

In conclusion, engaging in PA postpartum is complex and impacted by broader concepts and challenges related to the expected duties of motherhood. To assist new mothers in PA engagement household and societal support are needed to reframe PA and benefits to mental well-being and to support mothers in taking time for themselves. These findings expand the literature on postpartum women’s PA experiences and may inform inclusive PA programing for postpartum women.