Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave. E., Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
Department of Human Kinetics, St. Francis Xavier University, 1140 Convocation Blvd, Antigonish, NS, B2G 0B4, Canada.
J Prim Prev. 2020 Aug;41(4):317-329. doi: 10.1007/s10935-020-00596-y.
Although physical activity has been examined in many different populations, little is known about the physical activity of religious leaders. Religious leaders have considerable demands on their time and energy resulting in fewer opportunities for self-care, including participating in regular physical activity. The purpose of our study was to better understand the role of physical activity in Roman Catholic priests and in particular, the supports and barriers they face. We conducted one-on-one semi-structured interviews with eight priests regarding their perceived motivators and impediments to physical activity. Following a socioecological framework, we noted two common themes from the priests' interviews regarding their lived experiences. Our first theme included intra-individual characteristics such as personal factors including personality, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding physical activity. Our second theme contained extra-individual factors such as environmental influences including community involvement, accessible resources, and weather determinants. Both themes reflected supports and barriers to the priests' physical activity. Overall, our results indicated that although Roman Catholic priests experience unique barriers to physical activity related to their social identity, similar to other men of the same age, they are also affected by common factors that support or prohibit engagement in physical activity. The priests shared that health benefits and being physically active with others were their main supports, while busy work schedules, lack of knowledge, and poor health were barriers to their physical activity participation. These results suggest physical activity programming should be considered as part of seminary education, in particular, as a method of proactively taking care of physical and mental health so priests can manage the persistent and consistent demands made upon them. Further, once working as priests, physical activity programs should involve individualized approaches that include personal interests, and available resources while recognizing personal, social, and environmental barriers.
虽然已经在许多不同人群中研究了身体活动，但对宗教领袖的身体活动知之甚少。宗教领袖的时间和精力有很大的需求，导致他们很少有机会进行自我保健，包括定期进行身体活动。我们研究的目的是更好地了解身体活动在罗马天主教神父中的作用，特别是他们面临的支持和障碍。我们对八名神父进行了一对一的半结构化访谈，了解他们对身体活动的感知动机和障碍。根据社会生态学框架，我们从神父的访谈中注意到两个常见主题，这些主题涉及他们的生活经验。我们的第一个主题包括个体内部特征，例如个人因素，包括个性、关于身体活动的知识、态度和信念。我们的第二个主题包含个体外部因素，例如环境影响，包括社区参与、可获得的资源和天气决定因素。这两个主题都反映了神父身体活动的支持和障碍。总体而言，我们的结果表明，尽管罗马天主教神父因其社会身份而面临与身体活动相关的独特障碍，但与同年龄段的其他男性一样，他们也受到支持或阻碍身体活动的共同因素的影响。神父们表示，健康益处和与他人一起进行身体活动是他们的主要支持，而忙碌的工作时间表、缺乏知识和健康状况不佳则是他们进行身体活动的障碍。这些结果表明，身体活动计划应被视为神学院教育的一部分，特别是作为一种积极主动地照顾身心健康的方法，以便神父能够应对对他们的持续和一致的要求。此外，一旦成为神父，身体活动计划应包括个性化方法，包括个人兴趣和可用资源，同时认识到个人、社会和环境障碍。
