The Identifying Facilitators and Barriers to Regular Physical Activity Across Different Stages of Exercise Behavior Change: A Qualitative Study

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article/Open Access/ Released under (CC BY-NC 4.0) license

Authors

1 Department of Sport Sciences, School of Humanities, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran

2 Department of Physical Education, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Bojnourd Branch, Islamic Azad Univerisity, Bojnourd, Iran

Abstract

Physical activity plays a crucial role in preventing chronic diseases and promoting public health. This study aims to identify and analyze facilitating and inhibiting factors across different stages of behavior change among young adults. Following 50 semi-structured interviews conducted until theoretical saturation, with participants across five stages of exercise behavior change, facilitating and inhibiting factors for regular physical activity were identified and categorized into six domains: personal, psychological, socio-cultural, financial-economic, managerial, and facilities/equipment factors. The findings revealed that in the Pre-contemplation Stage, the psychological factor of mental readiness had the most significant impact on facilitating physical activity. In the Contemplation Stage, encouragement from friends and acquaintances was identified as the most important facilitating factor. In the Preparation Stage, the presence of exercise stimuli at home and workplace, as a socio-cultural factor, had a considerable impact on facilitating physical activity. In the Action Stage, the quantitative and qualitative development of sports facilities played a crucial role in increasing sports participation. In the Maintenance Stage, high-quality equipment and sports facilities, along with being recognized as an athlete, were identified as the most important facilitating factors. The results of this study can be utilized in developing effective programs to increase physical activity among young adults.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Mind, Movement, and Behavior

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 03 August 2026

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History

  • Receive Date: 27 June 2025
  • Revise Date: 03 December 2025
  • Accept Date: 13 July 2026

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