A study of perceived constraints on a community-based physical activity program for the elderly in Greece

The purpose of the study was to examine whether older adults (>60 years old) who participated in physical activity programs provided by a senior center in Greece perceived certain constraints as limiting reasons for their participation and whether perceived constraints could predict individuals' intentions to continue participation. The sample of the study consisted of 125 adults age 60 and older. The principal-component analysis of the leisure-constraint scale revealed 4 constraint dimensions: facilities/services, individual/psychological, lack of partners, and accessibility/financial. The results revealed significant differences in the perception of constraints between frequent and infrequent participants in the individual/psychological and accessibility/financial constraints. The constraint dimensions were also shown to predict a significant and fairly high (40%) proportion of the variance in older adults' intention to continue participation. The individual/psychological and accessibility/financial constraint dimensions were shown to be the major predictors. The implications of these results for promoting physical activity programs among older adults are discussed.