title: What barriers to physical activity do individuals with a recent brain injury face?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health issue that challenges professionals to develop effective health promotion strategies to meet individual's diverse and unique needs. One effective health promotion strategy is physical activity (PA), although barriers to activity frequently prevent participation. Thus, there is a need to identify the barriers to participation, amount of weekly PA completed, and readiness to be active if effective health promotion programs are to be implemented.
  
  
  METHODS
  A convenience sample of 28 outpatients with a TBI completed a questionnaire before discharge from a comprehensive outpatient program and descriptive statistics were reported. In addition independent t tests and effect sizes were calculated between amount of PA and stage of change.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results indicated that participants only faced an average of 2.25 barriers (range 0-9), completed a mean of 46 minutes of PA each week, and reported being in the "action" stage of PA participation. Individuals in the action and maintenance stage completed significantly more PA (21.67; t [25] = -15.43; p < .001; Cohen's D effect size = 4.39) than precontemplators or contemplators.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individuals with a TBI face many different barriers that prevent them from being active, placing them at further risk of experiencing secondary and chronic conditions. Practitioners should acknowledge that each individual faces a unique set of barriers emphasizing the importance of individualized health promotion programs.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Population Health, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. simon.driver@oregonstate.edu
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Driver
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ede
authors.forename: Zane
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dodd
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Anne Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Warren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult