Iranian Women's Perceptions and Experiences of Barriers to and Facilitators of Physical Activity

The purpose of this study was to explain Iranian women’s perceptions and experiences about barriers to and facilitators of physical activity (PA).
In this study, two focus group discussions and six personal interviews with women were performed. They were selected using the purposive sampling method. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and until data saturation was reached. Next, a directed content analysis method was used for data analysis.
Three main subthemes and 12 categories were developed as follow: ‘intrapersonal factors’, ‘interpersonal factors’, and ‘environmental factors associated with sports environment’.
The women cited numerous barriers to PA. They mostly believed that women did not set health as a priority in their life plan due to their multiple responsibilities and high levels of responsibility. They also acknowledged that each person should plan for PA despite all available barriers.