54 research outputs found
Parenthood and factors that influence outdoor recreational physical activity from a gender perspective
Background: A physically active life promotes both physical and mental health,
increasing well-being and quality of life. Physical activity (PA) performed
outdoors has been found to be particularly good for promoting well-being.
However, participation in PA can change during the course of a lifetime.
Parenthood has been found to be a life event associated with decreased PA,
especially among women, although studies in the field are sparse. The aim of
this study was to investigate participation in outdoor recreational PA, and
factors influencing participation among parents-to-be, with and without
previous children, from a gender perspective.
Methods: This study included baseline data from parents-to-be, 224 women and
208 men, from the municipality of Karlskrona in south-east Sweden. Data
collection was carried out during 2008-2009. We measured the self-reported
amount of outdoor recreational PA undertaken during the last year and analysed
the probability of participating in this PA using 25 variables covering
individual and socioeconomic factors.
Results: Seventy-six per cent of the women and 65% of the men had participated
in outdoor recreational PA, varying from several times per month to every day,
over a 12-month period prior to one month before pregnancy. Participation in PA
indoors and owning a dog or a horse emerged as the most important factors
associated with the probability of participation in outdoor recreational PA.
Men were affected by a greater number of factors than women, for example men
who had a family situation that permitted outdoor recreational PA participated
in activities to a greater extent than men without such a family situation. The
physical aspect, i.e. improved physical condition, staying power and vigour,
also played a significant role with regard to participation among men.
Conclusions: Becoming a parent is a life-changing event that affects
participation in PA. By offering family-oriented PA choices that involve both
parents and children, midwives and health promoters can encourage parents to be
active and to support each other. The promotion of outdoor recreational PA,
which also has restorative effects on well-being, needs to focus on activities
which are attractive and affordable for the majority of both women and men
“We’re just stuck in a daily routine”:Implications of the temporal dimensions, demands and dispositions of mothering for leisure time physical activity
The reduced physical activity of women when they become mothers is a public health priority. Existing studies show that mothers have little time for leisure, or time that is fragmented and requiring negotiation with others. However, the temporal features of mothering are undertheorised and qualitative studies tend to focus on how mothers can skilfully construct physically active identities and balance societal expectations about being a "good mother". In line with other research that focuses on the configuration of everyday practices that condition the "possibilities" for health-related practices like physical activity, we shift our focus away from the resisting capacities of mothers to the temporal features of mothering practices. We interrogate the lived experiences of 15 mothers of preschool children in deprived urban areas and illuminate the inherent temporal dimensions, demands and dispositions of mothering practices that condition the possibility of leisure time physical activity being undertaken. Together, these temporal features mean mothering practices can readily work against leisure time physical activity. The focus on the mothering practices rather than mothers brings a novel perspective for developing public health policy designed to support mothers into regular leisure time physical activity
A process evaluation: Does recruitment for an exercise program through ethnically specific channels and key figures contribute to its reach and receptivity in ethnic minority mothers?
Using a single-item physical activity measure to describe and validate parents' physical activity patterns
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