Exploring the Perspectives of Older Adults Upon Completing a Cervical Spine Home-Exercise Program: A Qualitative Study

Figures & data

Figure 1. The theme of motivational factors is represented by five subthemes.

Table 1. Codes representing the theme of motivational factors with supporting excerpts.

Theme	Subthemes (frequency in parentheses)	Qualitative example
Motivational Factors	Autonomy (6)	“And I did kind of discover a couple of ways that I thought made it better because my mattress isn’t all that hard…And it felt like I was getting better results that way. So I did that little modification”
	Competence (9)	“I mean, because the whole procedure was pretty simple and straightforward. I mean, it wasn’t any complications or anything.”
	Purpose (4)	“it was a win win situation for me, and also for you as students. So to, you know, educate, and share with others and in the meantime, because for me as well”
	Positive Experience (19)	“I am so thankful I was able to participate in this”
	Observed Changes (11)	“I definitely feel a difference. You know, my kids and my friends can see a difference. I can see a difference.”

Figure 2. The theme of perceived barriers to HEP participation has six subthemes.

Table 2. Codes representing the theme of perceived barriers with supporting excerpts.

Theme	Subtheme (frequency in parentheses)	Qualitative Example
Perceived Barriers	Time (11)	“You know, I found that remembering it seemed it wasn’t I forgot, but it’s like it was hanging over. I got to do that. I forgot, you know, yeah, I do this, you know. So, overall, eventually, it seemed funny to me it was difficult to do this when they were simple exercises. And it was just like, it seemed like it took too long time until I got rhythm and they figured out an easy way to do it. And then then we fell into place.” “It was at times difficult because I think most of the time we did too, too late in the day to start it, and by the time we thought about it, or by the time I thought about it, was like oh, no, gotta go do that stuff.”
	Uncertainty (3)	“I wasn’t sure that I was doing them exactly…you know, as provided”
	Doubt (3)	“Remembering to change my posture is not realistic at this age. I mean, I tried to remember, but I was never very successful because I was very busy.”
	Requires Commitment (11)	“I got impatient with doing them.” “I find that it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. It takes discipline.”
	Soreness/Fatigue (5)	“Oh, it was so sore. It was incredibly sore.”
	Forgetfulness (3)	“Sometimes it was hard to stick with it because you forget about it, and then suddenly you remember when you’re ready to get ready for bed. So that was the difficulty sticking with it. And one day, we completely forgot.”

Figure 3. Self-determination theory represents needs that impact motivation for behavior.

Data availability statement

There is no data set associated with this paper.