Table 6.

Intervention participant (person living with MCI) and PT identified barriers to the walking intervention

Sub-themes	Intervention participant (person living with MCI) quotes
Other commitments	I was trying to do it three days a week, but I haven’t done that recently because spring has sprung and the garden called, so yeah (ID15)
	It was a bit hard to start with but I’ve persevered and like I was out this morning at half past six. I try and do it most mornings and there are sometimes like tomorrow we’ve got an early appointment so I won’t be able to do it because we will be sort of on the rush (ID42)
Other health issues	I find that after the surgery and sitting at home for such a length of time and being isolated from people and friends, I just didn’t want to walk on my own anymore (ID08)
	I try and do it every day, but what I’ve found lately since I’ve had this chest problem is that if I go out in the wind, I end up coming home and I’m coughing and I’ve got phlegm and I’m back to being sick again, so I’ve tried not to go out the last two days (ID71)

Sub-themes	PT quotes
Not knowing how far people are walking	Oh yeah, I would have liked sometimes to have had the time to actually go with them for a walk and see where they are going, and how long is the distance. Is it 10 minutes? Oh, you must be really, really slow to do it in 10 minutes, or are they walking really fast to do it in 10 minutes? So I would have liked to have the time to actually work out a walking, or a park where we can actually go ok, you walk for the next two weeks (PT1)
	That’s easy enough to do, but the majority of the time it is very difficult to come up with a relatable distance that they should be walking because nobody walks a tape measure and most of these clients do not have a Fit app or a Fitbit or a step counter, so yeah, I struggle with that (PT2)
Pre-existing activity/inactivity	The last client I have at the moment he’s quite… he always talks about his hydro sessions that he’s doing three days a week, 45 minutes, and I say how are you doing here with your exercises, you can see it’s like I’m enjoying it, but the hydro he goes straight away back to his hydro and that is such a big social thing, catching up with his people, doing hydro sessions, have a coffee, have a chat (PT1)
	And then you have the population who live very sedentary lifestyles and it’s very, very difficult to get them engaged in walking, and even if you try and do it (PT2)
Isolating	And I had a few ladies who were just living on their own and not comfortable leaving the ground. I had one lady I could convince her to walk up and down her driveway, but not ideal either just doing the short distance constantly. Yeah, the ones that were alone were the most tricky bit to get them to go for walks if they don’t have a dog (PT1)
	Like they were fearful of getting out on the streets, out and about or they had no where like their backyards was complete garden, and really uneven ground, and their front driveway, and lead on to a very busy road. And the house didn't really have one long corridor, it just had lots of little rooms (PT3)

Sub-themes	Intervention participant (person living with MCI) and PT quotes
Weather	A lot of it was because it was wet, so I just didn’t. I don’t like getting waterlogged (ID16)
	Well, I didn’t do a lot of that because of the heat, but I do intend to pursue that once it’s cooler, and it’s getting cooler now (ID34)
	A lot of people were sort of… the weather was a big impact like it’s too hot or it’s raining; it’s too cold (PT1)
	And then the weather or she was unwell or there were lots of reasons why they can’t or couldn’t. I think that was probably the biggest part (PT4)
Lack of motivation	No, well, I don’t know that it’s not that I didn’t enjoy them, I just think it was laziness (ID06)
	Umm… well, like I say, I think the walking is boring more or less (ID22)
	It is a bit tricky with clients that are older and alone. I think just the motivation to get out to do things. I had one gentleman in a retirement village and it was so hard to motivate him to actually get out of his house (PT1)
	It was very difficult to keep people motivated. I don’t know if any other clinicians have found that but I really struggled to get the walking component with those that weren’t already doing it (PT4)