Barriers to physical activity among Brazilian elderly women from different socioeconomic status: a focus-group study.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to identify barriers to physical activity among elderly Brazilian women of different socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS A focus-group approach was employed. Subjects were aged, on average, 69.9 years (±6.9; n = 25). SES was measured based on a structured interview and women were grouped according to SES classification. Content analysis was used to categorize mentions of barriers to physical activities followed by descriptive analysis of absolute and relative frequencies of similar reports. RESULTS Most common barriers among high-SES elderly women were those within "psychological, cognitive, and emotional" dimensions (33.8%) and "environmental" (29.2%). Among women from lower SES, barriers were inversely ranked, the highest prevalence was verified for environmental (33.8%) and "psychological, cognitive, and emotional" dimensions (25%). CONCLUSIONS The results highlight that barriers perception varies according to women's SES, indicating that physical activity promotion strategies must address such differences.