Table 5.
Social and Environmental Enablers to Exercise With Illustrative Comments Expressed by Focus Group (N = 7) Participants, by Exercise Level
| Theme Identified | Exercisers (n = 2) | Insufficiently Active Individuals (n = 3) | Nonexercisers (n = 2) | |||||
|
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Groups | Illustrative Comment | No. of Groups | Illustrative Comment | No. of Groups | Illustrative Comment | |||
| Social enablers | ||||||||
| Health care provider advice | 2 | "The doctor was the motivating force, but he didn't know that much about it. He told me, you know, 'Here are three places to check out.'" | 3 | "I heard about the water aerobics when my doctor told me about it. And it has helped me to do other things just by the water aerobics." | 2 | "My doctor told me, he says it may mean your life if you exercise. Now I think that would be enough motivation. I'm still not doing it. It bugs me that I am such a failure at that." | ||
| Social support | 2 | "I think it's very important for family, for friends to support you. To understand that there is something wrong with you, but they can encourage you." | 3 | "I've gotten most of my information from either a doctor or other people that have the same type of disease have given me a few ideas of how to exercise." | 2 | "So anyway, I have a daughter who's very supportive and she is just right there with me all the way." | ||
| Someone to exercise with | 2 | "Well, I like being with the other people and exercising with them. . . . There's a social support there." | 3 | "And I've seen ladies a lot older than me in that aerobics class. Some of them are 80 and 90 years old, can't even walk outside of the water, you know. Being in the water they can do it. Seeing it, that's a big motivation." | 2 | "I think that an exercise program for those like us, we're a society by ourselves . . . it would be a wonderful thing." | ||
| Environmental enabler | ||||||||
| Exercise programs | 2 | "They had water aerobics. . . . And now they have 3 classes. . . . And a lot of doctors are sending patients there particularly." | 2 | "I would feel more comfortable if this person [instructor] could relate to me saying, 'Well, I have had arthritis. I know what you're going through. I know what the pain is like.'" | 2 | "You'd really have to have a personal trainer who was trained to tailor [the program], which would be a wonderful thing." | ||