Program Reach and Motivational Correlates of Exercise Behavior among Program Participants with Visual Impairment

ABSTRACT Introduction Adults with visual impairments (VI) experience unique barriers to exercise. Targeted exercise programming can eliminate barriers, but little is known about who engages in such programs. This cross-sectional study a) describes program reach and motivational correlates of exercise behavior among members of specialized exercise programs offered to adults with VI; b) examines demographic, psychological, and behavioral differences according to VI severity; and c) assesses the interrelationships between motivational characteristics and exercise behavior. Methods Data for program participants were provided to researchers by the partnered organization with participant consent. A total of 118 participants also completed a post-program survey on motivational characteristics and exercise behavior. Reach was assessed with descriptive statistics. T -tests and chi-squared tests were used to analyze respondent representativeness compared to the population of program participants (demographically) and normative values (motivationally). Analysis of variance examined differences according to VI severity. Pearson’s correlations and multiple regression assessed strength and independence of relationships between motivational variables and exercise. Results Programs attracted mostly equivalent groups of individuals across gender and varying severity of VI. Survey respondents were representative of program participants but were significantly more approach motivated and less avoidance motivated than published norms, and mostly exhibited autonomous forms of motivational regulation for exercise. Differences according to VI severity were not significant. Relationships between approach motivation and exercise were no longer significant when modeled with motivational regulation for exercise. Identified regulation was the lone significant predictor of exercise in the multivariate model. Conclusion This study presents a novel understanding of the demographic and motivational reach of specialized programming for adults with VI, as well as the motivational correlates of exercise behavior among existing program participants. Motivational characteristics were related to exercise behavior in a way that was consistent with theory, such that contextualized motivational regulation demonstrated stronger associations with exercise behavior than motivational dispositions.