Authors : Reza Gholi Vahidi , Vahideh Sadeghi , Badralsadat Rahnoma , Habib Ghazeezadeh , Alireza Masomee , Hosein Matlabi , Abdolrasool Safaeian , Atri and Mohammad Arshadi
Abstract: Physical activity can help to improve the health of population, through controlling non communicable diseases which are one of the main causes of deaths, now days, various future scenarios, indicate that situation might worsen, that is to say percentage of deaths due to improper life style and sedentary living increases, this will even be substantial in developing, underdeveloped and low income countries. Thereby, due to the importance of the issue and to improve the level of physical activity of population. This study aims to explore the underlying barriers to physical activity in Tabriz Iran, in order to design appropriate interventions to improve the situation. In this household, cross-sectional study 255 house-holds were selected using random sampling method and postal code. A self administered questionnaire with a return stamped envelop was sent to selected subjects. Two hundred and twenty envelop which included 875 completed questionnaires were analyzed by spss 13 and one side variance t-test and chi-square. Considerations physical accessibility, lack of time, cost, accidents, physical hygiene, were mentioned to be important barriers of physical activity regardless of the subject�s level of education. There was a significant difference between level of education (p = 0.001), cost consideration (p = 0.001) relatives disagreement (Parents) (p = 0.021), lack of facilities at school (p = 0.019), disturbance to neighbors (p = 0.011) and cultural constraints (p = 0.003). In relation to the occupation of subjects physical accessibility was a concern (p = 0.0195). Both sexes, lack of time (p = 0.036), Physical accessibility (p = 0.012), relatives disagreement (p = 0.011), Lack of resources at research (p = 0.0001) and cultural constraints for women (p = 0.0001) were mentioned as barriers. Findings also indicate that lack of motivation for female subjects is a barrier too (p = 0.0001). Parallel to short term interventions to increase the knowledge and expectations of subjects to lessen the effect of the personal barriers, long term intervention must focus on factors associated with build environment.
Reza Gholi Vahidi , Vahideh Sadeghi , Badralsadat Rahnoma , Habib Ghazeezadeh , Alireza Masomee , Hosein Matlabi , Abdolrasool Safaeian , Atri and Mohammad Arshadi , 2008. Barriers to Physical Activity among Tabriz Population of Iran. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 3: 863-866.