Identifying Factors That Influence Physical Activity and Healthy Aging Among Older Latino Adults

For older Latinos, some benefits of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) include enhanced cognitive functioning, decreased loneliness, and reduced premature mortality. Despite LTPA benefits, adults ≥50 years are one of the most inactive age groups in the United States.

This qualitative study aimed to add to the limited evidence of LTPA in older Latino adults by exploring the barriers and facilitators for fitness class uptake and park use. Guided by a Social-Ecological Model of Health and Social Determinants of Health theoretical and a phenomenological research design, qualitative research data were collected via 27 personal interviews with Latino adults using a semistructured interview guide. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling strategies in collaboration with community partners. Bicultural data collectors conducted the semistructured interviews over Zoom. Thematic analysis was performed using Dedoose, following an inductive and deductive approach.

The main barriers to fitness class attendance and park use were family and/or work commitments, perceived safety, and perceived discrimination. Conversely, the critical facilitators for participation were socialization into a group, social connectedness with group members, fitness instructor characteristics, and exercise history.

Findings from this study hold important implications for the design of fitness programming and park-based recreation, including the need to increase the cultural diversity of recreation staff and culturally relevant programming. Future research is needed on time poverty related to family/work commitments and whether discriminatory practices at fitness centers, like ageism and race/ethnicity, influence physical activity behavior.