“Left to my own devices, I don’t know”: using theory and patient-reported barriers to move from physical activity recommendations to practice

Summary Knowledge exchange with community-dwelling individuals across Ontario revealed barriers to implementation of physical activity recommendations that reflected capability, opportunity, and motivation; barriers unique to individuals with osteoporosis include fear of fracturing, trust in providers, and knowledge of exercise terminology. Using the Behaviour Change Wheel, we identified interventions (training, education, modeling) and policy categories (communication/marketing, guidelines, service provision). Introduction Physical activity recommendations exist for individuals with osteoporosis; however, to change behavior, we must address barriers and facilitators to their implementation. The purposes of this project are (1) to identify barriers to and facilitators of uptake of disease-specific physical activity recommendations (2) to use the findings to identify behavior change strategies using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW). Methods Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with community-dwelling individuals attending osteoporosis-related programs or education sessions in Ontario. They were stratified by geographic area, urban/rural, and gender, and transcribed verbatim. Two researchers coded data and identified emerging themes. Using the Behaviour Change Wheel framework, themes were categorized into capability, opportunity, and motivation, and interventions were identified. Results Two hundred forty community-dwelling individuals across Ontario participated (mean ± SD age = 72 ± 8.28). Barriers were as follows: capability: disease-related symptoms hinder exercise and physical activity participation, lack of exercise-related knowledge, low exercise self-efficacy; opportunity: access to exercise programs that meet needs and preferences, limited resources and time, physical activity norms and preferences; motivation: incentives to exercise, fear of fracturing, trust in exercise providers. Interventions selected were training, education, and modeling. Policy categories selected were communication/marketing, guidelines, and service provision. Conclusions Barriers unique to individuals with osteoporosis included the following: lack of knowledge on key exercise concepts, fear of fracturing, and trust in providers. Behavior change techniques may need tailoring to gender, age, or presence of comorbid conditions.