Mwanza Research Centre, National Institute for Medical Research, P.O BOX 1462, Mwanza, Tanzania.
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Feb 18;23(1):360. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15052-9.
People living with HIV (PLWH) have low levels of physical activity. Using the social ecological model to understand perceptions, facilitators and barriers of physical activity in this population is of importance for developing contextualised interventions to improve physical activity in PLWH.
This was a qualitative sub-study conducted between august and November 2019 as part of a cohort study on diabetes and associated complications in HIV infected in Mwanza, Tanzania. Sixteen in-depth interviews and three focus groups with nine participants in each were conducted. The interviews and focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed and translated into English. The social ecological model was considered during the coding and interpretation of the results. Transcripts were discussed, coded and analyzed using deductive content analysis.
Forty-three PLWH aged 23-61 years participated in this study. The findings showed that most PLWH perceived physical activity as beneficial to their health. However, their perceptions of physical activity were rooted within existing gender stereotypes and roles in the community. Running and playing football were perceived as activities for men while household chores activities were for women. Further, men were perceived to do more physical activity than women. For women, household chores and income-generating activities were perceived as sufficient physical activity. Social support and engagement of family members and friends in physical activity were reported as facilitators of physical activity. Reported barriers of physical activity were lack of time, money, availability of physical activity facilities and social support groups, and poor information on physical activity from health care providers in HIV clinics. Human-immunodeficiency virus (HIV) HIV infection was not perceived by PLWH as a barrier for doing physical activity but most family members did not support them to do physical activity, fearing that it might worsen their condition.
The findings demonstrated differing perceptions, facilitators and barriers of physical activity among PLWH. Interventions addressing awareness, gender stereotypes and roles related to physical activity from individual to community level are needed. Supportive environment and infrastructures are needed to improve physical activity levels in PLWH in Tanzania.
HIV 感染者（PLWH）的身体活动水平较低。使用社会生态学模型来理解这一人群中身体活动的看法、促进因素和障碍，对于制定针对改善 PLWH 身体活动的基于背景的干预措施非常重要。
这是一项定性子研究，于 2019 年 8 月至 11 月在坦桑尼亚姆万扎进行，作为一项关于 HIV 感染者糖尿病及其相关并发症的队列研究的一部分。对 16 名参与者进行了深入访谈和 3 次焦点小组讨论，每个小组有 9 名参与者。对访谈和焦点小组进行了录音、转录和翻译成英文。在编码和解释结果时考虑了社会生态模型。使用演绎内容分析法对抄本进行讨论、编码和分析。
43 名年龄在 23-61 岁之间的 PLWH 参加了这项研究。研究结果表明，大多数 PLWH 认为身体活动对他们的健康有益。然而，他们对身体活动的看法根植于社区中现有的性别刻板印象和角色。跑步和踢足球被认为是男性的活动，而家务活动则是女性的活动。此外，人们认为男性比女性进行更多的身体活动。对于女性来说，家务和创收活动被认为是足够的身体活动。社会支持以及家庭成员和朋友参与身体活动被报道为身体活动的促进因素。身体活动的报告障碍包括缺乏时间、金钱、身体活动设施和社会支持团体的可用性，以及 HIV 诊所的卫生保健提供者提供的关于身体活动的信息不足。HIV 感染者（PLWH）并不认为 HIV 感染是进行身体活动的障碍，但大多数家庭成员不支持他们进行身体活动，担心这可能会使他们的病情恶化。
研究结果表明，PLWH 对身体活动的看法、促进因素和障碍存在差异。需要针对个人到社区层面的身体活动意识、性别刻板印象和角色进行干预。需要支持性环境和基础设施来提高坦桑尼亚 PLWH 的身体活动水平。
