Creating Change >

Individual Level: Time

No time? No surprise.

In every one of the focus groups, participants identified lack of time as a barrier to physical activity. Individual circumstances determine how time is spent each day, but some commonly identified factors include:

• Caring for children or elderly parents
• Work responsibilities
• Family responsibilities
• More than one job
• Transportation issues
• Other interests and priorities
• Volunteer responsibilities
• Time taken to commute to work
• Limited mobility

Time is master in a western lifestyle, you know, there is not time [for] social activities. New Canadian focus group participant

With a wheelchair you have obstacles . . . you might have to go around the block rather than through the front door.
Focus group participant with a disability

Making Time for Physical Activity: An Ecological Approach

Focus group participants identified lack of time as a barrier to participating in physical activity. To succeed in addressing this issue, use strategies that incorporate the various levels of an ecological model:Want to learn more about this topic? Click here for useful online materials.

• The Individual
• The Social Environment
• The Physical Environment
• Policies and Regulations

Strategies for making time for physical activity