Abstract:

In the study, it was aimed to determine the physical activity barriers of the elderly and to examine the relationship of the obtained data with gender, having a chronic disease and body mass index (BMI). The population of the research consists of individuals aged 65 and over living in Izmir, and the sample consists of a total of 515 participants, 221 women and 294 men, with an average age of 70.75±6.15, who volunteered to participate in the study. Physical activity disabilities of elderly individuals were determined with the Physical Activity Disabilities Scale. Data were analyzed with SPSS 26.00. The significance level was taken as (p<.05) for all tests and the effect sizes of the results that were significant were evaluated with eta square (η2). In the analysis of the data, MANOVA was used to determine the difference between the variables of gender and chronic disease and the total score of the scale sub-dimensions, and partial (partial) correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the BMI calculated by the participants' height and body weight values and the total score of the scale sub-dimensions. As a result of the analyzes, when the difference between the gender variable and the total score of the sub-dimensions of the scale was examined, significant differences were found in favor of women in the sub-dimensions of personal and physical environmental barriers, and when the variable of having a chronic disease was examined, there were significant differences in favor of the participants with chronic diseases in all sub-dimensions. There was no significant relationship between BMI and physical activity barriers. As a result, it has been revealed that women and the elderly with chronic diseases have more physical activity barriers, and it is thought that it would be beneficial to make interventions to reduce physical activity barriers, especially in elderly individuals in these groups.

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