Physical Activity Promotion for Persons Experiencing Disability: The Importance of Interdisciplinary Research and Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stamatis Agiovlasitis ◽  
Joonkoo Yun ◽  
Jooyeon Jin ◽  
Jeffrey A. McCubbin ◽  
Robert W. Motl

This paper examines the need for interdisciplinary knowledge in the formation of public health models for health-promoting physical activity (PA) for people experiencing disability. PA promotion for people experiencing disability is a multifaceted endeavor and requires navigating a multitude of complicated and interactive factors. Both disability and health are multifaceted constructs and the relationship between PA and health is embedded within a complicated web of interactive influences. PA promotion must consider interacting biological and psychosocial factors within the person and in the sociopolitical environment. Models for research and practice need to evolve from value and belief systems that center on people experiencing disability without stigmatizing them. We argue that interdisciplinary research and practice is needed in navigating the intricacies of PA promotion toward improving the health of people experiencing disability and facilitating inclusion, empowerment, and dignity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
Nepha Musonda ◽  
◽  
Micah Mutuna Simpamba ◽  

Background:Physiotherapists are better placed to spearhead health promoting activities by encouraging health enhancing lifestyles as part of their practice. This study reviews health promotion practices of Physiotherapists in African countries in order to identify gaps and make recommendations to improve the health promotion practices. Methods:This narrative review was developed from a literature review of previous studies on health promotion practices among physiotherapists in Africa, which were published in English from the years 2010-2020, retrieved from Google Scholar and PubMed. Only articles that focused on health promotion, physical activity, practices, Physiotherapy and Africa were included.Results:Nine (9) studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Five (5) studies were from Nigeria while one study each from Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia. Most studies reviewed used quantitative cross-sectional surveys. The focus of these studies were mainly exploring Physiotherapists’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards health promotion and physical activity promotion. Others looked at Physiotherapy practices with regards to counseling, risk factor assessment and interventions as well as perceived barriers and educational needs. Conclusion: It is evident that there is little research done on health promotion practices among Physiotherapists in African countries. There is need to conduct more studies in this area in order to identify the challenges and improve the health promotion practices among Physiotherapy practitioners in the region.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (s1) ◽  
pp. S99-S107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Stamatakis ◽  
Timothy D. McBride ◽  
Ross C. Brownson

Background:While effective interventions to promote physical activity have been identified, efforts to translate these interventions into policy have lagged behind. To improve the translation of evidence into policy, researchers and public health practitioners need to consider new ways for communicating health promoting messages to state and local policymakers.Methods:In this article, we describe issues related to the translation of evidence supporting physical activity promotion, and offer some communication approaches and tools that are likely to be beneficial in translating research to policy.Results:We discuss the use of narrative (ie, stories) and describe its potential role in improving communication of research in policy-making settings. In addition, we provide an outline for the development and design of policy briefs on physical activity, and for how to target these briefs effectively to policy-oriented audiences.Conclusions:Improvements in researchers' and practitioners' abilities to translate the evidence they generate into high-quality materials for policy makers can greatly enhance efforts to enact policies that promote physical activity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann E. Vandenberg ◽  
Rebecca H. Hunter ◽  
Lynda A. Anderson ◽  
Lucinda L. Bryant ◽  
Steven P. Hooker ◽  
...  

Background:Research on walking and walkability has yet to focus on wayfinding, the interactive, problem-solving process by which people use environmental information to locate themselves and navigate through various settings.Methods:We reviewed the literature on outdoor pedestrian-oriented wayfinding to examine its relationship to walking and walkability, 2 areas of importance to physical activity promotion.Results:Our findings document that wayfinding is cognitively demanding and can compete with other functions, including walking itself. Moreover, features of the environment can either facilitate or impede wayfinding, just as environmental features can influence walking.Conclusions:Although there is still much to be learned about wayfinding and walking behaviors, our review helps frame the issues and lays out the importance of this area of research and practice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Baker ◽  
Walid El Ansari ◽  
Diane Crone

Community sports networks were established in 2007 to coordinate local sport and physical activity promotion. Partnerships continue to be used to deliver policy. It is important to understand the relationship between the internal structure of partnerships and their outcomes. This study assesses associations between predictor variables relating to partnership structure and process and four intermediary partnership outcomes: satisfaction, synergy, commitment and effectiveness. A retrospective analysis of data was conducted on 171 surveys administered between September 2008 and March 2009 from community sports network members in England. The predictor variables explained 67% of the variance in synergy, 75% of the variance in satisfaction, 63% of the variance in commitment and 46% of the variance in effectiveness. Sustaining a positive benefits-to-costs relationship, establishing effective communication and partnership strategy, and demonstrating impact were predictive of the four intermediary partnership outcomes. Further research is warranted to help establish a detailed understanding of partnership processes and outcomes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell L. Carson ◽  
Darla M. Castelli ◽  
Aaron Beighle ◽  
Heather Erwin

Author(s):  
Rasa Jankauskienė ◽  
Brigita Miežienė

Research background and hypothesis. The analysis of factors which might infl uence exercise adherence is important issue for physical activity promotion. Studies show that exercisers’ body image is important factor associated with well being, exercise motivation and specifi c exercise–related behaviour.Research aim was is to examine the relationship between exercise adherence, body image and social physique anxiety in a sample of fi tness centre participants. Research methods. Members of fi tness centres (n = 217, 66 of them were women) provided their answers on exercise experience, in three subscales (appearance evaluation, appearance orientation and overweight preoccupation) of The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ-AS; Brown et al., 1990) and Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS; Hart et al., 1989). Mean age of the sample was 29.02 (9.85) years (range = 18–68 years).Research results. Women demonstrated higher appearance orientation, overweight preoccupation and social physique anxiety compared to men. However, we observed no signifi cant differences in appearance evaluation, appearance orientation and overweight preoccupation in the groups of different exercise experience of men and women. When overweight respondents (≥ 25 kg / m²) were excluded from the analysis, there were no statistically signifi cant differences observed in body image and social physique anxiety in exercise experience groups of men and women. Exercising longer than 6 years signifi cantly predicted overweight preoccupation [95% CI: 1.25–16.94] controlled by age and gender. Discussion and conclusions. Exercising men demonstrated more positive body image and lower social physique anxiety compared to women, except for appearance evaluation. There were observed no body image and social physique relationships with exercise adherence observed in the sample of fi tness centre participants, however, exercise experience longer than 6 years predicted overweight preoccupation.Keywords: body image concerns, exercise experience, self-presentation.


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