The role of personal relationships within physical activity interventions for adults with long-term health conditions: a qualitative systematic review

Abstract

Background: Increasingly, healthcare provision in the UK has started to take account of the role of social relationships in affecting health behaviours and wellbeing.

Objective: To synthesize the literature on the types and roles of personal relationships for adults with long-term health conditions involved in physical activity interventions.

Methods: We searched eight databases from 1990 to March 2025 for mixed methods and qualitative studies of physical activity interventions in adults with a range of long-term health conditions. Interventions lasted ≥6 weeks and explored the influence of personal relationships on physical activity.

Results: Sixty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. Relationships identified included: interventionist; peers on the intervention; family members, friends, healthcare professionals, community, researchers, pets and a lack of social interaction.

Discussion: The results of this study highlight the importance of different types of social relationships and interactions for participants, illustrating the value of understanding the social context of physical activity interventions.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Powell, L. Ellis, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9734-8948 Kipling, K. Longster, H. Roden, A. Azevedo, L.B.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2025 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Physical Therapy Reviews is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Keywords:	Relationships; physical activity; behaviour change; long-term health conditions
Dates:	Submitted: 4 November 2024 Accepted: 29 July 2025 Published (online): 7 August 2025 Published: 7 August 2025
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Education
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2025 10:37
Last Modified:	29 Aug 2025 10:37
Status:	Published online
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1080/10833196.2025.2543159
Sustainable Development Goals:
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:230839

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The role of personal relationships within physical activity interventions for adults with long-term health conditions: a qualitative systematic review

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