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Besomi M.1, Martínez M.J.1, Enríquez M.I.1, Leppe J.1, Mauri-Stecca M.V.1, Sizer P.S.2
1Universidad del Desarrollo, School of Physical Therapy, Santiago, Chile, 2Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Health Professions, Lubbock, United States
Background: In the past decade, the number of urban runners has considerably increased. In Chile, running has been reported as the third most commonly used physical activity after soccer and physical fitness among physically active adults. Motivation, a driving force to achieve personal goals, has been linked to exercise adherence. Even though running is an easily accessible activity, the knowledge of underlying motivational factors among runners could enhance promotion of physical activity participation.
Purpose: Urban life may reduce an individual's motivation for pursuing a better physical lifestyle. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze motivations for sustaining a consistent running routine in different runner populations from Santiago de Chile using the Motivations of Marathoners Scales (MOMS-34). This is the first study examining the specific values of motivation in different runner groups in South America.
Methods: Urban runners over 18 years old were recruited from different sources in Santiago, including three municipal parks, two running races and three running clubs during October of 2015. The parks were chosen randomly according to three different socioeconomic levels, and the sampling from the other two sources was non probabilistic. An online survey was delivered to all recruited runners (n=517) using the SurveyMonkey system to their email address. The survey collected information on: socio-demographics characteristics, health, training factors, runners self-perception and running motivation based on the 7 dimensions of MOMS-34 (using a 1-7 likert scale). Descriptive statistics and Spearmans correlational measurements were analyzed using STATA13.0.
Results: The survey response rate was 42% (n=217; 47.3% female; age mean = 28 years and IQR = 23-39), where 49.8% of subjects reported more than 18 years of formal education. From the total of responses, 43.4% were self-reported as long distance runners (10-21km). Subjects reported a median training frequency of 3 days/week (IQR3-4), a median accumulative training volume of 30km/week (IQR15-47) and a median of 3 years running experience (IQR2-5). Previous running injury was reported in 54.4% of subjects, occurring most frequently at the knee (25.8%) and ankle/foot (16.3%) segments. According to MOMS-34, the highest scores (>5 points) in both sexes were reported in the "Health-orientation" and "Meaning-of-life and self-esteem" dimensions, along with "Overcoming-personal-goals and competition" in males. The lowest score for both sexes was "Recognition". A positive weak correlation was observed between motivation-oriented-to-competition and training-volume (rho=0.26;p 0.05), along with a negative weak correlation between motivation-oriented-to-competition and age (rho=-0.27;p 0.05). When analyzing among different marathoner populations, ultra-marathoners and trail-runners exhibited "Meaning-of-life and self-esteem" and Psychological-goals as their main motivational dimensions.
Conclusion(s): The most important motivational dimension for all runners was "Health-orientation" and the least one was Recognition. Additionally, goals and competition-based motivation appear particularly important to males.
Implications: Runner´s motivations are important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Knowing their habits and behaviors could help health-related professionals in choosing strategies that promote physical activity through running.
Funding acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.
Topic: Sport & sports injuries
Ethics approval: This study was approved by the Scientific Ethics Committee of the Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
