MOTIVATION AND BARRIERS: perception of aged that they participate of groups of Third Age of Santa Cruz do Sul do Sul

Abstract

This study has the objective to describe the reasons that take the aged ones to practice physical activities in the Third Age Groups and the barriers that hinder them. Thirty aged citizens were subject of this research. The methodological approaching was an exploratory descriptive study, in witch was applied a questionnaire about motivation and barriers for the physical activity practice. As result, it was evidenced that the motivation of the aged ones for physical activity practice is related to: To congregate and meet with other people; to feel itself carried through; to feel themselves mentally more alert and to improve and keep the health. As for the barriers, they exist, in diverse aspects: social, physical and psychic. Although they exist, for these aged ones it did not became something that completely hindered them to go to the group and to practice physical activities. In conclusion, although the difficulties that the aged ones find day after day, the motivation and the barriers are related to the perception of each one, which can become an important and definitive factor for the assiduity or desistance of these individuals in the third age group.