Physical Activity Experiences of South Asian Migrant Women in Western Australia: Implications for Intervention Development

Alexis Pullia, Zakia Jeemi, Miguel Reina Ortiz and Jaya A. R. Dantas
Additional contact information
Alexis Pullia: Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia
Zakia Jeemi: Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia
Miguel Reina Ortiz: College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
Jaya A. R. Dantas: Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: The benefits of physical activity are widely recognised; however, physical activity uptake remains low in South Asian populations. South Asian migrant women face health risks as they adapt to new cultures, and these risks are often intensified through their limited participation in physical activity as one of the behaviours that promote positive health outcomes. Three focus group discussions with sixteen South Asian migrant women aged between 33 and 64 years, with a median age of 48 years and who live in Western Australia, were conducted. Thematic analysis of the transcribed qualitative data was completed to explore and uncover South Asian women’s experiences with physical activity, as well as their motivation, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge about physical activity. Five major themes emerged after coding and analysing the data. The themes included the women’s knowledge of physical activity, their general attitudes and beliefs surrounding physical activity, the advantages and disadvantages of participation in physical activity, their experiences with physical activity, and the barriers, challenges, and facilitators surrounding physical activity. Recommendations are proposed to increase physical activity among this group to improve overall health and wellbeing and implications for intervention development are discussed.

Keywords: South Asian; migrants; women; physical activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3585/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3585/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3585-:d:773713

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().