Ice is one of those things that can be terrific in the right place - a drink glass, the Olympic skating rink - but horrible somewhere else. I particularly dislike ice having had a couple of nasty injuries as well as one car crash and some near misses that I can blame at least in part on frozen water in an unexpected or 'the wrong' place. Ice is one of those things, like weather in general, that forces us to realize how little control we have. And control has been a very critical element in the last group of interviews I completed for my dissertation work. About 2 years ago, I conducted interviews with people I considered 'lifelong physically active older adults.' Of course lifelong, active and older (at least) are all subjective terms; these were people all over 50 who had with minimal exception been exercising regularly, passionately even since their 20s.
For the recent group of interviews, I spoke with people who initiated regular participation (had been irregular or inactive) during middle age (30s up). This group was all a little older - 60s - but had many years of regular activity participation that just happened to start a little later in life than the first group. I have not conducted a systematic comparison (maybe I will) but I sense something of a difference in group #2 regarding control. Without going into details (that is why one writes articles, to go into details), I am beginning to think that the typical physical activity intervention - that focuses on opportunities for activity -tends to be somewhere between largely ineffective and absolutely useless. I am also questioning the concept of efficacy (confidence) building. Instead I think that what people need to have is control but I am not certain exactly how to give it to them. Ironically, I have continued to conduct interviews to help inform interventions but I am not finding what I expected at all. I guess that's the point of research, though.
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AuthorI am Sheryl L. Chatfield, Ph.D, C.T.R.S. I am a member of the faculty in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. I also Co-coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research and I am a member of the Design Innovation Team at Kent State. Archives
February 2024
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