Physical Activity Climate and Health Beliefs Are Associated with Workplace Physical Activity Program Participation of Older Employees of a Public University

Objective: Physical activity and work ability are increasingly important topics due to aging of the modern workforce. Workplace physical activity programs can help attenuate the decline in physical resources that typically transpires with age yet, older employees are less likely to participate. The study’s primary aim was to understand how perceived benefits and barriers and physical activity climate are related to older employees’ participation in workplace physical activity programs. Methods: The inquiry design was a needs assessment utilizing an 18-item survey. Respondents consisted of 862 older employees (>55 years) of a public university in the southeastern United States. Differences in total subscale scores between sexes, program participation status, occupational category and physical activity were compared and contrasted. Results: Differences in perceived benefit and barrier scores between workplace physical activity program participants (N = 474) and non-participants (N = 388) were significant with a p-value 0.001. Physical activity climate scores were significantly different as well with a p-value of 0.003. All three subscale scores (benefits, barriers, climate) were also significantly different between physically active and inactive employees with a p value 0.001. Conclusions: The findings from this investigation suggest that employees’ participation in workplace physical activity programs is influenced by their individual beliefs and perceptions of social and organizational norms. Physical activity climate should be a primary consideration to promote workplace physical activity program participation among older employees. Additional recommendations to improve participation among older employees are discussed.