Correlates of Exercise Maintenance Among People with Mobility Impairments

Purpose: This paper describes correlates of exercise maintenance in a sample of adults with mobility impairments. Understanding processes that promote exercise is important if one is to increase access to exercise for people with disabilities.

Method: A model of variables predicting 6-month maintenance of regular exercise was examined, using data from a self-administered questionnaire given to a community sample of 113 adults with long-term mobility impairments. Descriptive analyses and logistic regression were used.

Results: Logistic regression showed that people with lower motivational barriers and higher exercise self-efficacy had a higher probability of exercise maintenance. Demographic characteristics and disability-related and environmental barriers did not differentiate between those who did and did not continue to exercise.

Conclusions: Long-term sustained exercise by people with mobility impairments might be promoted by efforts to increase motivation to exercise: involve health professionals as one source of support and expand opportunity by increasing access to appropriate sites and programming.