Department of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Br J Health Psychol. 2023 Feb;28(1):221-236. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12621. Epub 2022 Aug 24.
Physical activity is an important health behaviour especially for older adults. Forming implementation intentions is an effective strategy to implement physical activity in daily life for young and middle-aged adults. However, evidence for older adults is inconclusive. This study explored the thoughts of older adults about implementation intentions and potential barriers and facilitators while formulating them.
Three samples of older adults from the United Kingdom (n = 8), Germany (n = 9) and Switzerland (n = 17) were prompted to think aloud while formulating implementation intentions to be more physically active. After the task, semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data were analysed thematically.
Participants expressed pre-established thoughts about implementation intentions (e.g. they feel too restrictive). During the formulation of implementation intentions, several barriers to creating them were reported (e.g. problems with finding cues due to absence of recurring daily routines), but participants also mentioned that forming implementation intentions acted as a facilitator for physical activity (e.g. cues as useful reminders to be active, task itself triggering self-reflection about physical activity). After the task, participants reflected on circumstances that decrease the likelihood of enacting implementation intentions (e.g. spontaneous alternative activities, weather, health-related barriers, Covid-19-related barriers), which triggered spontaneous coping planning.
The results on barriers and facilitators of implementation intentions and physical activity from older adults' perspectives provide starting points for improving instructions for older adults on how to create implementation intentions for physical activity. Future studies are needed to investigate whether the findings extend to implementation intentions for other behaviours.
体育活动是一种重要的健康行为，尤其对老年人而言。制定实施意向是将体育活动融入年轻和中年成年人日常生活中的有效策略。然而，针对老年人的证据尚无定论。本研究探讨了老年人对实施意向的想法，以及在制定实施意向时可能存在的障碍和促进因素。
从英国（n=8）、德国（n=9）和瑞士（n=17）抽取了三组老年人样本，要求他们在制定更积极的体育活动实施意向时进行出声思维。任务完成后，进行了半结构化访谈。采用主题分析法对数据进行分析。
参与者对实施意向表达了预先存在的想法（例如，他们觉得实施意向过于限制）。在制定实施意向的过程中，报告了一些制定障碍（例如，由于日常例行活动的缺失导致线索难以找到），但参与者也提到，制定实施意向本身可以促进体育活动（例如，线索可以作为有用的提示，提醒自己要积极活动，任务本身会引发对体育活动的自我反思）。任务完成后，参与者反思了降低实施意向实施可能性的情况（例如，自发的替代活动、天气、与健康相关的障碍、与新冠疫情相关的障碍），这引发了自发的应对计划。
从老年人的角度来看，关于实施意向和体育活动的障碍和促进因素的研究结果为改善针对老年人如何制定体育活动实施意向的指导提供了起点。需要进一步的研究来调查这些发现是否适用于其他行为的实施意向。
