A qualitative study assessing the barriers and facilitators to physical activity in adults with hearing loss
Objectives: Growing epidemiological evidence has shown hearing loss is associated with physical inactivity. Currently, there is a dearth in evidence investigating why this occurs. This study aimed to investigate the barriers and facilitators to physical activity in middle-aged and older adults with hearing loss.
Design: Individual semi-structured qualitative interviews.
Methods: A phenomenological approach was taken. Ten adults (≥40 years) were interviewed via videoconferencing. The interview schedule was underpinned by the capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour (COM-B) model. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to generate themes, which were subsequently mapped onto the COM-B model and behaviour change wheel.
Results: Nine hearing loss specific themes were generated, which included the following barriers to physical activity: mental fatigue, interaction with the environment (acoustically challenging environments, difficulties with hearing aids when physically active) and social interactions (perceived stigma). Environmental modifications (digital capabilities of hearing aids), social support (hearing loss-only groups) and hearing loss self-efficacy were reported to facilitate physical activity.
Conclusions: Middle-aged and older adults with hearing loss experience hearing-specific barriers to physical activity, which has a deleterious impact on their overall health and well-being. Interventions and public health programmes need to be tailored to account for these additional barriers. Further research is necessary to test potential behaviour change techniques.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
British Journal of Health PsychologyVolume
29Issue
1Pages
95 - 111Publisher
John Wiley & Sons LtdVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Acceptance date
2023-08-22Publication date
2023-09-01Copyright date
2023ISSN
1359-107XeISSN
2044-8287Publisher version
Language
- en