Planned Exercise Behavior in an Older Adult in Times of COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: The human body is created to be in constant activation. However, sedentary behaviors in older adults are increasingly common. This is worrisome, since this age group has the belief that when they reach this stage of their life they should not do physical exercise, even though this need does not diminish with the passing of the years.

Objective: To describe the experiences of planned physical exercise behavior in an older adult during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Single case study with phenomenological approach, the reference used was Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception, under the perspective of the planned behavior theory. An in-depth interview was conducted. For the qualitative analysis of the information, the referent proposed by Taylor-Bogdan was used.

Results: Three categories and eight subcategories were obtained, they were defined based on the selected study phenomenon, the theory of planned behavior: experience to exercise; perceived control; subjective norm.

Conclusions: The experience of practicing physical exercise in old age is lived with a positive attitude; however, this became negative, because due to the pandemic by COVID 19 it was mandatory to interact through technology to be able to perform physical exercise.