Sitting as a moral practice: Older adults’ accounts from qualitative interviews on sedentary behaviours

Amidst public health campaigns urging people to sit less as well as being more physically active, this paper investigates how older adults make sense of their sedentary behaviour. Using an accounts framework focusing on how people rationalise their sitting practices, we analysed data from 44 qualita...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociology of health & illness 2021-11, Vol.43 (9), p.2102-2120
Main Authors: Palmer, Victoria J., Gray, Cindy M., Fitzsimons, Claire, Mutrie, Nanette, Wyke, Sally, Der, Geoff, Chastin, Sebastien F. M., Skelton, Dawn A., Cox, Simon, Coulter, Elaine, Čukić, Iva, Dall, Philippa, Deary, Ian, Dontje, Manon, Gale, Catharine, Gill, Jason, Granat, Malcolm, Greig, Carolyn, Hindle, Elaine, Laird, Karen, Mead, Gillian, Radakovic, Ratko, Sattar, Naveed, Shaw, Richard, Starr, John, Stewart, Sally
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accounts
accounts framework
Aged
Aging
Campaigns
Health behavior
Health Promotion
Humans
Interviews
moral practice
Morals
older adults
Older people
Public health
Sedentary
Sedentary Behavior
sedentary behaviour
sitting
Social factors
Stigma
Visual feedback
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Amidst public health campaigns urging people to sit less as well as being more physically active, this paper investigates how older adults make sense of their sedentary behaviour. Using an accounts framework focusing on how people rationalise their sitting practices, we analysed data from 44 qualitative interviews with older adults. All interviewees had received information about sedentary behaviour and health, visual feedback on their own objectively measured sitting over a week and guidance on sitting less. Participants used accounts to position sitting as a moral practice, distinguishing between ‘good’ (active/‘busy’) and ‘bad’ (passive/‘not busy’) sitting. This allowed them to align themselves with acceptable (worthwhile) forms of sitting and distance themselves from other people whose sitting they viewed as less worthwhile. However, some participants also described needing to sit more as they got older. The findings suggest that some public health messaging may lead to stigmatisation around sitting. Future sedentary behaviour guidelines and public health campaigns should consider more relatable guidelines that consider the lived realities of ageing, and the individual and social factors that shape them. They should advocate finding a balance between sitting and moving that is appropriate for each person.
ISSN:0141-9889
1467-9566
DOI:10.1111/1467-9566.13383