Three themes were identified from the data. These were 1) Engagement and perceived value of walking; 2) Integration and connectivity of walking; and 3) Strategies to increase walking. Each of the three themes and illustrative quotes are presented below.
- Engagement and perceived value of walking
This theme focused on the meaning of walking for the participant and the attributes they associate with their walking practice. Included in this theme are expressions of identity, perceptions and expectations of walking, and perceived gender differences.
Identity
Most respondents had walked throughout their lives but did not necessarily identify as walkers:
I think it’s always been part of my life, it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed doing. (006 Male, 63 years)
Many respondents differentiated themselves from those perceived as ‘walkers’. For example, some used the term ‘ramblers’ - perceived to have specialist equipment for hiking:
I don't think I'd describe myself as a walker because, to me, that's someone that puts on walking boots and hikes, but I very much enjoy walking. (023, female, 64 years)
Some participants had multiple walking / physical activity identities depending on circumstances, preferences and environment: an urban walker and cyclist and a hiker in the country:
I’m more likely, in the city, to cycle. I’m a hiker, definitely a hiker. I walk… I mean, I walk everywhere that I don’t cycle, let’s put it that way. (021, female, 66 years)
Perception of walking
Walking was perceived as both a social practice but also an activity whereby an individual could have agency and choice:
The thing about going walking is that, if you wanted to, I think there’s quite a lot of opportunity to join organised groups and go that way. Against that, psychologically, if you want to go off and walk on your own it’s not too difficult. (006, male, 63 years)
For some walking was perceived as a fun activity in and of itself:
It’s not hiking, you’re just doing urban walking. It’s kind of random and it should be fun….. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. If you do, carry on. (025, male, 56 years)
It is good for your balance because I've found, obviously I can't do yoga and Pilates now because of lockdown so, you know the way, you might be going up rough terrain or you might be climbing over a stile, that type of thing is good. (003, female, 59 years)
Benefits of walking
The perceived benefits of walking went beyond just the physical. It was also seen as being a social endeavour with shared goals:
I think, sociable, hoping to lose weight, going with people who hopefully are a similar weight to you or whatever. They may be losing weight together, feeling better, having a chat and possibly going for coffee afterwards, you know….(003, female, 59 years)
At least you have the opportunity for people to speak to you, whereas if you're inside there's no opportunity for that. And then, I suppose, what else? It's just like, if you're getting out in the open air, if it's a nice day, you're getting a bit of sun, you're getting a bit of wind on your face. (012, male, 75 years)
Most respondents cited psychological benefits that could be accrued from walking:
Well, I think it gets your endorphins up. You feel great afterwards. I think it gives you a more positive attitude to things. (003, female, 59 years)
If you are feeling down in the dumps or you have got a really, you know, crap case and things are getting on top of you I think just getting out, regardless of what the weather is like, you feel better afterwards, don’t you? (009, female, 64 years)
In comparison to other activities walking was seen to yield fewer health benefits than other sports:
I know walking doesn’t have huge, sort of, health benefits in comparison with cycling, or squash, or racquetball, but it’s certainly better than nothing. (007, male, 59 years)
I used to find that I had my more creative thoughts when I was just walking because it was more of a meditative thing, in some way. (001, female, 69 years)
Other respondents linked their walking practice with their professional identity and personal interests:
I’m a biologist and, actually, my first degree was in botany. There’s nothing I love more, actually, than being outside. I would love to live somewhere much more rural so I was kind of immersed in it. When I go on holiday, I much prefer going to places where there are fewer people and much more nature. So I love being in nature and I love doing the walking (034, female, 54 years)
Gender and walking
Gender was a determinant in walking practice such that women were often driven by opportunities for mental health benefits from experiencing the natural environment:
It’s got great mental health benefits being out in nature and seeing the countryside and plants and trees and animals. (005, female, 62 years)
However, this was view was tempered by urban safety concerns suggesting a preference for group walking:
Well, a big barrier here is you can do a bit of a pavement walk and if you want to walk out more into the country, you do worry about who you might meet, and especially if you're a woman alone. Whereas if you are in a little walking group – not one where you have to wear hiking books, but just a walking group – there is safety numbers. (023, female, 64 years)
Women also cited that they were socially conditioned and had internalised ideas of the acceptability and social perceptions of lone walking:
You just get socialised that way. It’s like I would never… Men go and sit in the pub on their own but women don’t sit in the pub on their own because it’s perceived differently. I don’t think about it in those terms but I guess I’ve probably internalised some of that stuff and that’s probably part of the reason. (024, female, 57 years)
Social norms led some men to feel that walking alone could be perceived negatively by members of the public:
I think there is this misconception with men, if they are walking around they are up to no good. (008, male, 59 years)
However, men were not deterred by such perceptions of others as they generally preferred the urban environment to randomly explore and observe human activity and sites of interest:
I think, for me, part of the walking thing is you see human activity, it’s there around you….It’s the randomness of you don’t have to all be planned your precise route. I think this idea of randomness and just exploring is good for us actually. (025, male, 56 years)
With the city you tend to look at buildings, people, shops, and all the other good things, so there is plenty going on. (008, male, 59 years)
2. Integration and connectivity of walking
This theme focused on how participants integrate walking in their daily lives and whether walking can be conceived of or practiced as a viable means of connectivity. This theme also includes perceptions of ‘purposeful’ and ‘incidental’ walking and the implications of ageing.
The purpose of walking given by participants included connectivity and as a means of transportation between two places:
Main purpose? Just getting out from A to B, avoiding the buses, because I had a bit of turn on one of the buses when I was ill, back in the day, some 10 years ago now. I was not happy getting on a bus. (020, male, 59 years)
Because I need to do a walk every day, and sometimes I feel silly walking on my own, I will factor it into doing something. For example, today I did have an appointment, so I walked to the appointment rather than going in the car. (005, female, 62 years)
However, some would not engage in walking for the sake of a walk:
No, I would find it difficult going for a walk for the sake of a walk, unless I am going to something specific or I am with somebody else. In the past I always had a dog, so I had to go for walks. I do not have a dog now. (001, female, 69 years)
Walking was perceived to have the potential to be integrated into daily life more easily than other forms of physical activity such as cycling due to not needing special equipment and the opportunity to see more:
I think walking is just easier. You haven’t got to put any special clothes on, dry yourself off or anything. You can just go out your front door, go where you are and you can just explore. It’s absolutely wonderful. It does give you a little bit of variety and also you see your place, your urban place, you see it differently because your pace is different. …. with a walk, for me, I’m exploring more. (025, male, 56 years)
Ageing and walking
Respondents spoke of their family and friends who have developed long-term conditions through ageing which was a seen as something which could be thwarted by engaging in physical activity. However, one respondent did not see ageing as an excuse not to engage in activities:
I suppose some of the people I know, friends and family, they’ve got different types of long-term conditions. That includes, unfortunately, rheumatoid arthritis, musculoskeletal conditions, I don’t… Some of that stuff comes with ageing, which is quite common. I’m fortunate that I don’t have any of those conditions. I want to maintain… I want to be supple, I’m not going to do that by sitting in a chair. As I’ve said, I’m retired so one thing I’ve got is an abundance of time. So I’ve got no excuses not to engage in activities. (015, male, 65 years)
Conversely, others acknowledged that physical activity could help preserve the ageing body:
We know the human body ages, we’ll all age. Your brain will age, your eyes will age, your body will age. You’ve got to look after yourself. Part of looking after yourself could be going for walks (025, male, 56 years)
However, even if walking had been integral in the life of respondents’, issues such as declining stamina had imposed limitations:
I mean, it’s been a part of my life for a very long time. But I thought I’d be able to push my stamina and increase my distance, but it’s proving hard, because of the pain and because of running out of energy. (024, female, 57 years)
Some female respondents saw retirement as an opportunity to spend time engaging in physical activity with partners who were already retired:
Yes, it would be a longer walk. And the other thing, probably in retirement, is joining a walking group. Which I’ve never considered doing. …. We enjoy one another’s company and we don’t get that much time together. And recognising that he is older than me, then I want to maximise as much time as I can have with him. (026, female, 61 years)
I mean he still works full-time as a carpenter and he is nearly 69. But he goes out for long walks every weekend. He probably walks more than me. Yes, he will go out regardless. We will go out more together when we both pack in next year. Anyway that’s the plan. (009, female, 64 years)
3. Strategies to increase walking
This theme focused on what factors motivate participants in their walking practice and what strategies they perceived have been or potentially beneficial to increase walking distance and intensity at an individual level.
Motivation for walking was often perceived primarily as a qualitative and cognitive experience that was not contingent on measurement or intensity:
I don’t want to know what my heart rate is or something like that. What I like to be able to do is to know I’ve walked three, four, hours or whatever, enjoyed myself, and come back in one piece. (006, male, 63 years)
Participants preparing for a walk required initial physical and cognitive energy for the walk to be realised:
The initiation energy for me to do a craft project in the house is much lower than the initiation energy for me to, the activation energy for me to, get my shoes on, think about where I’m going to go, work out how I’m going to get there, all of that stuff. So there’re lots of moving parts that I need to consider before I can go out for what I would consider a walk, in inverted commas. (024, female, 57 years)
Male respondents were more likely to refer to step counting and found it demotivating if they were not able to achieve the recommended 10,000 steps per day. For some it could be counter-productive or lead to a sense of underachievement:
I suppose I could improve my steps. They do need attention, I must admit. Because how I look at is I’m letting the side down, if I’m not doing my steps, 10,000 steps a day, if I’m only doing 2,500, 3,000. I’m letting the side down. So, I need to definitely improve on that, that’s a given. I need to improve on my step ratio. And because there is so much pressure that you ought to do this, you ought to do that, you ought to do 10,000 steps, but actually it can just make you feel guilty and lower your self-esteem. (004, female, 58 years)
It was something to aim for, but most people tried to strike a compromise with regard to step counting and aimed for lower:
I just wanted something to aim for… I think with my pedometer on my phone, it says I’m aiming for an average daily walking rate of 6,000. If I can make that, I’ll be happier. (020, male, 59 years)
However, one respondent found step counting to be motivational to the extent they were exceeding the recommended steps:
Yes, basically I started off in 2017 I got a work mobile phone; I got the app down and basically monitored the steps. The first year, 2017, I did about 3,500 a day, and in 2018 I stepped that onto 7,500 a day. In 2019 I got up to 11,000 and then thought it was getting a bit silly, actually. (008, male, 59 years)
I don’t know, you might have this thing where the app is saying, “I need to do this many thousand paces a week and I’ve only done this much, I feel terrible.” (025, male, 56 years)
Other motivational strategies could be based on distraction such as an individuals’ personal interests such as bird watching or listening to podcasts:
I think sometimes if people are walking and they are interested in, say, birds, then they will find it easier. I suppose people could actually find out how best they like it, whether it is walking in groups or whether they are walking with some other purpose, or whether they are using the time, as I said, to listen to podcasts, getting out of the house, and you do not have to do anything else. (001, female, 69 years)
There was an awareness of slowing down as the aging process advanced and for respondents to find a comfortable pace in their walking practice. This awareness impacted on the approaches that could be used to promote increased walking at this life stage:
I don’t go fast or anything, I’m not one of these power walkers or anything. It’s just ambling, I go at the pace I feel comfortable with. (025, male, 56 years)
Challenging and increasing hill walking did not feature in accounts of urban walking and was confined to settings on a treadmill:
I mean, if it was a treadmill, rather than it being flat, I'd put it on about level nine, so you could really tell that you were walking uphill. And then I'd try and get a pace which was not running but it was a fairly decent pace, let's put it that way. And I'd try and do that for about... erm, like I said, you'd probably do 20 minutes like that, but you'd do sort of maybe five minutes warming up and five minutes cooling down. And I was probably doing that a couple of times a week, maybe three at the outside. (012, male, 75 years)
Listening to podcasts was also a strategy used by some respondents to encourage them to get out for a walk:
What I was beginning to do, and this actually would encourage me to walk more… This has now encouraged me to perhaps walk, is I have been listening to podcasts. Yes, that is definitely something I would be doing, or maybe I can still do. (026, female, 61 years)
Social Prescribing
Health professionals such as GPs were considered to be well placed for the promotion of walking in the context of ‘social prescribing’ schemes. These schemes are promoted by a number of government and third sector agencies (add refs). However, much of the data in this regard was in the context of specific cases and / or for mental health and lifestyle conditions rather than public health:
And I think that's the programme that they've brought in at VitaMinds, which is obviously- people are going on the pathway for CBT and other things, PTSD, whatever. And what they're finding is that people are- if they plug them into that, it's quite gentle, it's quite prescriptive and people are scoring how they feel… (016, female, 57 years)
There is a new young GP here and he's full of ideas and all the latest stuff. With all this social prescribing that's coming in with the NHS and GP surgeries, I'm sure that will be good for getting people to not go to things where they sit around and have tea and cake, but maybe some fresh-air things. (023, female, 64 years)
Some respondents also considered social prescribing as a strategy for preparing for retirement:
I can see that a lot of people wouldn’t. I think what would be good for people who are thinking about retiring… If they want to walk, if walking is what they want to do, I think it would be good for them to find some sort of group to join because what’s difficult is to meet people, and stuff, once you’re retired. It would combine the two and might motivate them to do both. (019, female, 64 years)
Other strategies to increase walking included creating walking groups with a purpose such as exploring the archaeology of an area, and a pub stop:
I would be attracted if there was a slow walkers’ group, for want of a better way of saying it. I also get very interested if there is a purpose to it, so, for instance, the industrial archaeology of the area, or a focal point. And for a longer walk, I would be really interested if there was, say, a pub stop in the middle. (016, female, 57 years)
In a similar vein it was considered that historical photography could create the impetus for exploratory walks by revisiting the sites of the original photographs to compare with the present context. This could be a strategy facilitated by mobile phone apps and /or maps.
I like those old black and white photos. That’s interesting, so that’s how it was. Then you can go there with a specific purpose to see a place, you’ve got a photo and you compare this is how It is now. It’s like a then and now thing. Which give you a meaning a purpose for your walk, which is actually really interesting. Maybe there could be stuff through mobile phones. I personally would prefer a small map with a nice little route would be quite good. (025, male, 56 years)
Walking with dogs was seen as a strategy for engagement in walking and was also an activity that could lead to creative and social outcomes:
If you were just asking me about exercise and a dog, yes, very good because it gives you a sense of purpose, it gives you a commitment, it can lead to social outcomes because you meet other dog walkers, it can be fun if your dog is frolicking around and being silly, that is just fun… (001, female, 69 years)