iranian women's perceptions and experiences of barriers to and facilitators of physical activity

Backgroundandobjectives: the purpose of this study was to explain iranianwomen’sperceptionsandexperiences about barriers to and facilitators of physical activity (pa). methods: in this study, two focus group discussions and six personal interviews with women were performed. they were selected using the purposive sampling method. data was collected using semi-structured interviews and until data saturation was reached. next, a directed content analysis method was used for data analysis. results: three main subthemes and 12 categories were developed as follow: ‘intrapersonal factors’, ‘interpersonal factors’, and ‘environmental factors associated with sports environment’. conclusions: the women cited numerous barriers to pa. they mostly believed that women did not set health as a priority in their life plan due to their multiple responsibilities and high levels of responsibility. they also acknowledged that each person should plan for pa despite all available barriers.