The PRIMO study

We know that exercise benefits our physical, mental and social health. We also know that mid-life women and those with multimorbidity (multiple long-term conditions) and joint pain often struggle to stay active and to get the health benefits that exercise could provide.

We want to understand why consistent exercise and getting fitter is so challenging. What are the physical, social, emotional and mental factors that come into play, especially around that menopausal transition.

This project will involve 3 phases:

Phase 1

The first phase involves online questionnaires. These questionnaires will ask peri and post-menopausal women with long term health conditions about their menopausal symptoms, any joint pain and stiffness, their physical activity levels and the things that help and hinder them to be more active. It will also involve some questions about their age, postcode, ethnicity and other medical conditions as this will allow us to investigate whether how much of a role each of these play in becoming and staying active.

Phase 2

Participants who have completed the questionnaires will be asked whether they would consider participating in interviews where they will be asked further questions about types of exercise that they have previously tried, what worked and didn't work and the types of support that is useful in becoming and staying active.

Phase 3

This will involve focus groups with some participants with lived experience (peri and post-menopausal women with multimorbidity including osteoarthritis), and physiotherapists, exercise professionals, public health professionals. These focus groups will be asked to brainstorm and design and intervention that might help peri and post menopausal women with multimorbidity including osteoarthritis to be more active. They will discuss what has been tried before in various areas and what worked/ didn't work and what could be done differently.