TEAM 12
What is a Determinant?
A determinant is a factor that contributes and determines the outcome of something. In physical activity, there are many different types of determinants that determine what type of activity you do, how long you do it for, how intense it is, and in many cases if you even exercise at all.
Different types of Determinants
Personal Determinants
This includse the person's age, gender, race, health conditions, and also cognitive determinants like their self efficacy and beliefs about physical activity
Social Determinants
This includes their friends, family, spouses and support systems around them
Environmental Determinants
This would include weather conditions, access to facilities, transportation, and safety
Personal Determinants
Personal determinants have everything to do with the individual and their own characteristics. They are different for each person and solely based off yourself, hence why they are personal. This includes things like:
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Age
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Gender
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Ethnicity
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Physical activity history
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Self efficacy
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Belief about physical activity
Personal determinants are some of the biggest/most important determinants because they are subjective and different for everyone. For example, physical activity history and belief about physical activity, if you've played a sport your whole life, you know how important physical activity is, believe it will help you and will be more willing to get up and exercise than someone who has never played a sport and isn't used to daily physical activity.
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Social Determinants
Social determinants have to do with those around you and your support system. This includes things like
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Friends
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Family
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Spouses
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Support systems
These determinants play a major role in your motivation and drive to keep exercising. Some examples include: you'd be more likely to attend a yoga class if one of your friends was already going. You're more likely to workout if your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to go and workout with you. If you have friends or family you look forward to seeing in a group activity, you'd be more motivated to go than if you were going by yourself.
Environmental Determinants
Environmental determinants are exactly like the name suggests, they have to do with the environmental factors around you. This includes things such as:
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Weather conditions
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The facilities you exercise or do physical activity at
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Transportation there
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The safety of your facilities and journey there
Your environment can play a huge role on whether you're physically active or not. For example, if you only have to walk a couple minutes to the gym, it's much easier to go than if you have to catch the bus for 30 minutes. Also, if you walk and its a cool sunny day its no problem, but if you walk and its -10 degrees outside and snowing? You most likely don't want to walk through the freezing cold snow, so you'll workout tomorrow. We can also consider the facilities where you workout, if it's in a nice area with new equipment, lots of parking, and has nearby places to eat, that's much more appealing than a gym in a sketchy area with old rusty equipment and nothing else around it.
Why determinants are important
Determinants are important because they are the "why" or the reason we do do things. They are either the thing that drives us to keep going, or the reason we're holding ourselves back. If we're able to identify these determinants, we can change and manipulate them for our own good.
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