Table 3 Summary of participant suggestions for improving Active Women over 50 against themes

Age and gender matters / Life-stage demands

“Maybe some information around menopause and how you cope with that…” (P2)

“…Except, just like related to having time ‘cause that’s sometimes a big thing. I could go for a 15 minute walk, or I could do something in 15 minutes. Actually, I’ve got an hour, I can probably go to the gym and it won’t be a problem or I’ve only got a quick 30 minute lunch break and I’d like to do something… I’d like to squeeze in something in the evening between making dinner and the washing up or whatever… And maybe things you can do with your family, that involve your family as well.” (P5)

Need: Wider information and solutions for women aged 50+

Recommend: Adapt and integrate physical activity information with wider age/gender-related matters. These could include physical activity solutions for people with time constraints or information on broader health topics such as menopause or nutrition.

Age and gender matters / Invisibility and hypervisibility

[In response to a previous gym experience where staff provided little assistance which was perceived as due to her gender] “I know we had somebody come and talk to us, but it might’ve been nice if we’d gone there, because I’ve never been over to the gym. I’d probably feel a bit intimidated about going for the first time” (P14)

Need: Support attendees’ reticence to use gyms as a physical activity option.

Recommend: Program facilitation of attendee group visits to the workplace gym and health facility.

Physical activity is social /

Social connection

“I think being able to talk to the participants after the workshop would have been … Yeah, it [would] have been nice just to see what other people’s experience was… Yeah, certainly being able to exchange ideas maybe in a more physical … more sort of face-to-face experience…With the participants and the facilitators, I guess.”(P14)

Need: Opportunities for attendees to share physical activity information/ideas.

Recommend: Program initiation and facilitation of face-to-face meetings with other attendees beyond the information session.

“And I want you [program facilitator] to be there and say, “come on [names self], let’s run around the park today, you’ve got half an hour break, I want to see you out there. Other women are going to be there.“ So I would do more of that. I would do more of that….” (P9)

“But it might’ve been nice to, you know just thinking in a brainstorm kind of a way, maybe to have been invited to come along to do a lunchtime workout together or something like that. Just to connect doing some kind of physical activity together.”(P5)

“Not just give you information but actually maybe provide a class so a lot of people can do it and have a feeling and then maybe they’ll start to join.” (P16)

Need: Physical activity opportunities for attendees.

Recommend: Program initiation and facilitation of face-to-face physical activity opportunities with other attendees beyond the information session.

“I think it would be helpful if you actually went out into the community and sort of found groups and shimmied them along…go to their church group or their social group, their book club, their whatever it might be…so you want to build on that emotional requirement.”(P19)

Need: Established social connections to provide support for physical activity.

Recommend: Leverage established social connections for supporting physical activity by implementing program in community groups.

Strategising for physical activity / Accountability

“And possibly following up with you [program facilitator] and checking your progress instead of an email, a phone call with a bit of a discussion from the person who does have your baseline, to check in how you’re going, I would have found it very helpful.” (P6)

“Yeah, that digital thing [pre-intervention accelerometer]. But I never actually found out anything from it. I never actually found out any results from it. So … I guess, I would’ve had a position to, “Okay, well I need to improve on this.“ Yeah.” (P19)

Need: Accountability to someone for being physically active.

Recommend: Provide accountability to the program via (e.g.) regular “check-in” with attendees; personalisation of program through tailoring, personalised outcomes-focused feedback, and facilitate individual physical activity planning.

“Like I said before, if you gave me an exercise physiologist and said okay this exercise physiologist is going to give you a program and then follow you every week or every fortnight or month or whatever, I’d probably be more motivated than I would be, cause I’m scared of it because I now have to live up to his expectation of what I’m meant to be doing. If somebody else is expecting me to do something then I tend more to do it.” (P20)

“Well, there’s an exercise physiologist who works here at the hospital, but …I don’t have any medically limiting conditions, so really, it’s just motivation I need. So, I don’t need anyone physically … I don’t need anyone to, kind of, show me how to do things. I just need someone behind me, pushing me.” (P19)

Need: Someone to be accountable to for physical activity

Recommend: Be accountable to a health professional who can provide physical activity personalisation.

Strategising for physical activity / Monitoring

“So I think something where you can maybe add in your steps, or add in three types of exercise that you’ve done during the week…and that builds into a graph or something… You have a weekly goal. You strive to get to your weekly goal, you get Frequent Flyer points. I have worked out that it’s probably worth, I don’t know, like $30 a year in Frequent Flyer points that you’re getting. So it’s nothing, you know what I mean?” (P18)

Need: Support motivation by linking physical activity to incentives.

Recommend: Link activity tracker output to a web-based personalised dashboard with set goals. The dashboard could be linked to an incentive program that rewards the attainment of goals.

Strategising for physical activity / Active Women over 50 as a catalyst and resource

“And you file it [the email], you categorise it, and then you forget about it…Text? A text might’ve been better. It might’ve been more ding, you know like you kind of get a message and you go, “okay.“… Yeah, a text might be better.”(P9)

Need: Flexibility for receiving messages.

Recommend: Provide alternate formats other than email to receive motivational messages.

“I think videos are always a good thing. Short videos.” (P5)

Need: Engagement with email messages.

Recommend: Incorporate video content into motivational email messages.