Table 1 Studies investigating the determinants of sport participation for community dwelling older adults
Ref & Year | Design* | Method | Sample (n) | Country | Age (yrs) | Cohort | Sex** | Aim (as reported by the author) | Sport and/or PA**** | Sport*** | Theory | Key finding(s) | Quality Score (out of 1.0)***** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[45] (2010) | Quant | Cross-sectional | 2111 | England | 60–69 | Community dwelling adults | M&F | Examine the reasons for the decline in physical activity | PA & sport | General sports | -Barriers included employment, lack of leisure time, physical limitations and poor health - There were few sport participation differences between employed and retired older adults, thus suggesting employment and lack of leisure time may not be a determinant of participation. | 0.85 | |
[44] (2011) | Quant | Cross-sectional | 22,050 | Australia | >65 | Community dwelling adults | M&F | Characterise the types of leisure time physical activity in older Australians | PA & sport | General sports | - Older adults are more likely to engage with organised activity rather than unorganised activity, such as physical activity classes, rather than sport) - Most activities undertaken were aerobic types of activities, such as swimming, golf, cycling, racquet ball and rowing | 1 | |
[13] (2006) | Qual | Interviews | 28 | Australia | 60–89 | Masters athletes | M&F | Explore the motives and experiences of Australian Masters Games’ athletes | Sport | General sports | Post-structural | - Participants believed that their involvement in competitive sport prolonged their physical fitness, social health and psychological health. - Participants celebrated that their behaviour challenged age-appropriate norms and disassociated themselves from the aged stereotype - Resistance to the ageing body was associated with feelings of personal empowerment. However participants did not deny they were ageing, but wanted to enjoy playing sport for as long as they could | 0.75 |
[23] (2009) | Quant | Longitudinal | 284 | Australia | 40–96 | Lifeball members/ex-members | M&F | Describe and examine the demographic and health related characteristics of Lifeball players and how these affect continuation in the sport | Sport | Lifeball****** | Lifeball appealed to those who were already active, however poor health was the main reason for discontinuing playing Lifeball. Participants who had continued to play Lifeball 12 months after starting were more likely to report higher perceived socialisation benefits, but the quantitative data did not show any changes to level of physical activity, self-reported health status and quality of life | 0.8 | |
[50] (2012) | Qual | Interviews | 22 | Sweden | 66–90 | Active sports people | M&F | How sports can affect old adults’ processes of sense-making about old age | Sport | General sports | Grounded theory | - Participants used sport to maintain their ‘look age’, that is to maintain their weight, as a way to control the ageing process - Participants used sport as a way of evaluating and understanding old age, that is understanding how their physical capabilities were decreasing through participating in sport. Known as ‘capability age’. - Men measured capability age more quantitatively than women (through results of competition), and perceived ageing as a negative concept - Women accepted their physical decline but saw ageing as a more positive process, where they could feel empowered and would become inspirational to other women | 0.75 |
[19] (2001) | Qual | Interviews | 15 | New Zealand | 71–78 | Masters’ Games participants | M&F | Examine the beliefs about the role and meaning of physical activity in later life | PA & sport | General sports | - An appropriate level of competition and fairness was deemed important in order to value and enjoy involvement - Whilst participants dropped out of sport within a few years of leaving school, they started played again, either informally or in organised competition, in their mid-50s or early 60s - Participants largely participated in team sports in their youth, but now participated in individual sports | 0.5 | |
[15] (2012) | Quant | Cross-sectional | 408 | USA | 55–94 | Senior Games’ participants | M&F | Describe the behaviours, importance of the reasons for participation and perceived outcomes associated with the North Carolina Senior Games | PA & sport | General sports | - Participating in the North Carolina Senior Games made a contribution to participants’ physical and social engagement, for example being physically active and socially interacting with their peers - Competition was important to participants but not as important as social reasons - As the Games was a structured year round programme, this enabled participants to be more active throughout the year. Also less educated participants (high school or lower) saw the social determinants of participation as more important than higher educated participants | 0.9 | |
[16] (2013) | Qual | Interviews | 10 | USA | 52–71 | Senior Games’ participants | M&F | Examine the experience of older adults participating in serious leisure to determine how this experience contributes to successful ageing | Sport | General sports | Serious leisure perspective | - Participants expressed the need to persevere through injury and illness, as they expected positive outcomes, such as training success or to ensure financial stability (through winning races) - Benefits of participation reported included physical and social benefits, such as social networking/developing friendships, physical fitness, enhanced self-image and fun, from their participation. - Participants have developed a specialised knowledge base of how to play a sport and this previous investment encourages them to continue participating as they age. - Participants reinforced their social identities through their sport participation | 0.65 |
[20] (2005) | Qual | Ethnography & interviews | 18 | Australia | 64–88 | Bowls participants | F | Identify the objective career of lawn bowlers and the subjective interpretations the participants assign to the sport | Sport | Bowls | Serious leisure perspective | -Women can engage with a sport via various pathways, such as friends, family or life circumstances and for different reasons, therefore previous history is not always the main determinant - Some women thrived on the competition, whereas other participants enjoyed informal participation | 0.8 |
[48] (2001) | Quant | Longitudinal | 1710 | Scotland | 39–60 | Community dwelling adults | M&F | Examine physical activity participation data for early and late middle age in the West of Scotland | PA & sport | General sports | Individual sports are undertaken more by men than women in late middle age and more differentiation by socio-economic status is seen in late middle age than early middle age | 0.55 | |
[17] (2014) | Qual | Photo elicitation & interviews | 6 | USA | 56–70 | North Carolina Senior Games’ participants | M&F | Use photo elicitation to examine the meanings associated with physical activity participation | PA & sport | General sports | Grounded theory | - Participants indicated that they were resisting the stereotypes of ageing imposed upon them by society and were defining what successful ageing meant - Participating in a mega event provided an opportunity to develop a sense of collective community through competition and friendship. - Participants distinguished themselves from other older adults through competition. - Participants used sport as a mechanism to transform their identity from ageing older adults to competitive athletes | 0.85 |
[49] (2014) | Qual | Interviews | 10 | South Korea | 66–83 | Sport club members | M&F | Examine the benefits of serious involvement in leisure activities among older Korean sport club members | PA & sport | General sports | Serious leisure perspective | Serious involvement in sports club activities provided the participants with psychological, social and physical health benefits | 0.65 |
[47] (2012) | Quant | Longitudinal | 1460 | The Netherlands | 55+ | Retired or widowed participants | M&F | Examine widowhood and retirement as determinants of moderate to vigorous physical activity and sports participation | PA & sport | General sports | No association between retirement or widowhood on sports participation, therefore not a determinant of participation | 0.91 | |
[22] (2011) | Qual | Photovoice & focus groups | 15 | Canada | 12–72 | Curling participants | F | Examine the influence of curling on the health of women in rural Canada | Sport | Curling | - Curling was vital to participants’ mental and physical health in winter - Playing curling can foster social connections and decrease social loneliness - Curling was seen as a way to support rural life. Participants volunteered and supported the club as an extension of supporting their community | 0.8 | |
[14] (2007) | Qual | Ethnography & interviews | 110 | Australia | 55–94 | Masters Games’ participants | M&F | How older adult Masters sport participants interpreted the concept of community | Sport | General sports | Grounded theory | - Participants developed feelings of belonging and membership with other participants through having a common interest in a particular sport - Being identified as a sports person whose very participation in sport was seen as an achievement, reinforced a feeling of relevance and life purpose. - Participants had shared desires to remain competitive, healthy and active in order to positively age - Older adults felt they had some influence and control in the sport they were playing by being able to “give back”, either through coaching or volunteering | 0.9 |
[21] (2003) | Qual | Interviews | 19 | USA | 67–87 | Golf participants | M&F | Investigate the premise that serious leisure supports successful ageing | Sport | Golf | Serious leisure perspective | - Golf has different types of participants (core, moderate, social or therapeutic devotees) and therefore each group had different determinants to participation. - Participants enjoyed social health (social interaction and friends they had developed), Psych health (intellectual challenge, self-improvement, enjoyment, stress relief relaxation, pure fun) and PH (prevention of disability, as it kept them active and moving). - Golf was perceived to help some participants’ age well. It was a purposeful, meaningful activity and provided significant social relationships | 0.65 |
[18] (1997) | Quant | Cross-sectional | 246 | USA | 55+ | Senior Olympics participants | M&F | Explore the influence of histories of competitive sports involvement, health beliefs, reasons for exercising and personality on physical activity participation | PA & sport | General sports | Health belief model | - Childhood and adolescent participation are not significant on Masters’ sport participation. However more than half of Masters’ participants still played sport in their 20s and 30s and others returned to sport during middle age rather than retirement. Suggests that some prior sport history is important but not all prior participation Competitors believed exercise was more important than non-exercisers, however they had more varied motivation to participate (improved health, in addition to socialisation and competency) than non-sports exercisers and non-exercisers | 0.73 |
[46] (2010) | Quant | Cross-sectional | 6569 | Germany | 50–67 | Post-menopausal women | F | Examine the subject-related determinants of physical activity for post-menopausal women | PA & sport | General sports | - Sport participation was significantly associated with occupation (civil servants most popular), so job type can be a determinant for some participants - Also, later in life nulliparous women were less physically active than parous women, and women who had children at a younger age are less likely to participate in sport than older mothers, − Non-indigenous women was strongly associated with low sport participation | 0.86 |