| Background: Women are less likely to meet the suggested levels of physical activity compared to men, particularly in the
rural setting. For this reason, community-based interventions associated with physical activity were developed to improve
physical activity in village women. We conducted the present study to explore the experience of target group in term of
physical activity to identify factors that could be strengthened and the weaknesses that could be improved.
Methods: This qualitative study was conducted applying content analysis. The study setting was Saied Abad, a village in
the northwest of Iran. The data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted between August 2018
and January 2019. All the participants were rural women, who had experienced at least once doing physical activity in the
community-based intervention named Women’s Park.
Results: The findings were classified into two main categories and six subcategories: (a) intrapersonal facilitators, such as
habituation, (b) interpersonal facilitators, such as family support, (c) environmental facilitators, such as practical
activities, (d) intrapersonal barriers, such as lack of time due to family responsibilities, (e) interpersonal barriers, such as
not having the support of friends, and (f) environmental barriers, such as cost.
Conclusion: In the rural women’s experience, the factors affecting doing physical activity were both facilitators and
barriers. This study demonstrated that in addition to the intrapersonal factors, doing physical activity is affected by
interpersonal and environmental factors. These findings will be helpful in promoting community-based interventions and
scheduling rural women’s health promotion behaviors. |