Asian American Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity

Objectives To explore Asian American midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity using a feminist perspective. Design A qualitative online forum study. Settings Internet communities/groups for midlife women and ethnic minorities. Participants A total of 17 Asian American women recruited through the Internet using a convenience sampling method. Methods A 6-month qualitative online forum was conducted using 17 online forum topics. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Three major themes related to Asian American midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity were extracted from the data: keeping traditions, not a priority, and not for Asian girls. Because Asian American midlife women were busy in keeping their cultural traditions, they rarely found time for physical activity. The women gave the highest priority to their children, and physical activity was the lowest priority in their busy lives. Also, the women were rarely encouraged to participate in physical activity during their childhoods, and they perceived that their weak and small bodies were not appropriate for physical activity. Conclusions Several implications for future development of physical activity promotion programs for this specific population have been suggested based on the findings.