CO-DESIGNING A STRENGTH TRAINING INTERVENTION FOR WOMEN IN MIDLIFE

A. Lowe¹, H. Humphreys¹

¹Sheffield Hallam University, The Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Background: Muscle strength is essential for everyday tasks, it has a central role in work and play across the lifecourse. In women, muscle strength begins to decline around 40 years of age, and this accelerates rapidly during perimenopause. Poor muscle strength can lead to poor function, pain and conditions such as osteoporosis. Muscle strength is amenable to exercise at every stage of life.Strength training is a low-cost intervention that has a powerful impact on women’s health. It maintains function and independence as we age, and it also improves mood, improves sleep, maintains muscle and bone strength and helps maintain a healthy weight. Despite this, engagement with strength exercises remains incredibly low amongst women. It is perceived as complex, daunting, risky and women report being scared of bulking-up. In midlife, women are time poor, have conflicting priorities and strength training is not perceived as compatible with life transitions such as menopause.

Purpose: To support women to maintain strength and thus improve health, ageing trajectories, ability to stay in work and quality of life.

Methods: This project took a creative user-centred design approach, using the Ideo Toolkit to consider the 3-phases of Inspiration, ideation and Implementation. We recruited a diverse sample of women in midlife and conducted co-design workshops that explored women’s experience of midlife, including challenges associated with menopause, work and family transitions. In phase 1 we explored perceptions and experience of strength training and barriers and enablers to strength training. In phase 2 we undertook rapid idea generation and rapid prototyping, and in phase 3, we selected one idea to take forward and consider aspects of implementation.

Results: Key insights were used to co-designed a digital strength training programme for women in midlife. We worked with women to identify key features, desired functionality, explore the opportunity to collect data, understand the visual language and terminology that resonates. We have developed a blueprint for the programme that includes key differentiating factors include (i) the programme’s credibility; something that was perceived to be lacking in existing offers, (ii) the programme’s inclusivity, and finally (iii) the fact that it is genuinely co-designed with women, for women.

Conclusions: Strength training is a powerful health promotion activity that is underused and undervalued. Engagement rates are particularly low amongst women and diminish with advancing age. There is a lack of awareness of the benefits of strength training amongst women in mid life and existing support offers do not meet their needs. There is an opportunity to develop interventions that make it easier for women in midlife to engage with strength training and in doing so, improve their health, wellbeing and ageing trajectories.

Implications: Physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and support workers have a key role in health promotion. Promotion of muscle strength as part of musculoskeletal health, across the lifecourse is an important role for physiotherapists, particualrly given the reach they have with people with long term conditions.

Funding acknowledgements: This project was funded by UKRI Zinc Catalyst award in 2021.

Keywords:
Muscle strength
Midlife
Health promtion

Topics:
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Musculoskeletal
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) & risk factors

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Sheffield Hallam University

Committee: Health, wellbeing and life sciences

Ethics number: ER37050211