The purpose of this study was to explore individuals’ reasons for wanting an exercise partner, and to examine whether the reasons for wanting a partner differed based on individual characteristics. The most common categories that women reported looking for in an exercise partner were motivation, social support, and accountability and adherence to exercise. There were no significant differences in endorsement of these categories by socio-demographic and cancer-related characteristics, except for age. Ultimately, the inductively-coded categories align with overcoming common barriers to exercise within populations with cancer, but also populations of healthy women [30]. These barriers identified within this online physical activity support program also align with previous literature on in-person physical activity barriers [31, 32].
Social support was a primary reason for wanting an exercise partner. Various aspects of social support were acknowledged by participants, including having similar goals or a desire for companionship. Given the individuals seeking out a partner for exercise were signing up for a peer partner exercise platform, it is not surprising that social support was a main reason for wanting an exercise partner [33]. As such, social support is perceived to be an inherent feature of the Active Match platform. Given the complex nature of social support, it is important to consider the various forms of social support and how satisfying different social support needs may impact long-term exercise behaviour change. A recent study by Peck and colleagues [34] highlighted that a ‘good match’ of peer partners living with and beyond cancer resulted in greater perceived social support and exercise, as well as an increased likelihood of long-term communication with the peer partner. Given the need for social support as a key motivator for women signing up for a peer exercise partner program, it may be important to consider specific elements around social support preferences (e.g., emotional support vs. informational support, See Table 1 for definitions) within the program registration that can be used to partner like-peers in ‘good matches’ for improved long-term health outcomes. These findings are generally consistent with the theoretical [13, 15, 35] and empirical [36, 37] literature showcasing the importance of social support, especially for women.
Motivation is a commonly expressed barrier to exercise amongst inactive individuals [38] and was also a primary reason for wanting an exercise partner. Interestingly, participants seemed to associate the concept of having a peer partner as a source of motivation. This is in line with previous literature on group exercise programming dynamics [39]. It is essential to consider how a peer partner can motivate their partner to be active. Are there specific actions or behaviours that the peer requires in order to help provide that motivation? Given the spectrum of motivation (i.e., ranging from intrinsic to external regulation [40]), there may be additional factors to consider beyond simply providing a peer partner to be active. In line with the BCTT [16], an understanding of what type of motivational style each individual prefers and perhaps motivational techniques that align with those styles may help build successful peer partnerships that can motivate one another. Contrastingly, motivation for others was a unique element expressed by some women in this study by reporting a desire to help others and contribute to others’ exercise journeys. Previous research on peer mentors delivering exercise interventions for individuals living with and beyond cancer has focused on the coaches’ motivational readiness for exercise, as well as the benefits for the coaches throughout the delivery of the program [20]. However, the motivation to help others in a peer-based (rather than coach-based) setting has not been leveraged. Considerations for partnering based on motivation to be active could help provide both partners with the foundation to increase activity and help others be active simultaneously (e.g., partnering a peer who expresses a motivation to help others with a peer who expresses the need for motivation to be active). It also may be warranted to understand participants’ interest in leading peer matches or a peer group for those who wish to take more initiative or a leadership role in the pairing. Ultimately, an understanding of shared goals and goal congruency when pairing peers may result in more successful partnerships [41, 42].
Lastly, while signing up for Active Match is the ‘start’ of an individual’s engagement in peer-partnered exercise, approximately one quarter of the sample was actively considering maintenance of activity levels, categorized as accountability and adherence. This finding demonstrates that the women signing up for the program were not solely considering the initial phase of initiating exercise engagement but were actively considering the long-term investment of being active. This may be a nuanced element of the peer-partner approach, where knowing they are being partnered with a peer prompts individuals to consider their long-term needs given that they will be partnered for an indeterminate period of time. This is an important factor to consider within a peer-partner design to ensure that women’s long-term needs are being captured within the program sign-up phase. As such, practitioners may encourage both short- and long-term goal settings of those being partnered within a peer partner program. Participants may be factoring in the long-term investment of being active when registering for a peer-partner program. While a focus on how the peer partners can support each other immediately should be prioritized, partners should be encouraged by practitioners or program leads to consider how they can support each other’s goals over time. In addition, investigating how to support successful peer matches long term within services such as Active Match is warranted, as well as the implementation of mitigation strategies when peer partnerships are not successful [43].
Taken together, individuals’ preferences for an exercise partner align with a desire to overcome common barriers to exercise. This connection could indicate that the individuals signing up for a partner may feel as though simply having the peer partner may eliminate or reduce their existing exercise barriers. While having other individuals to engage in exercise with can help to reduce common exercise barriers, peer partners may not be, in isolation, a long-term solution to eliminating all exercise barriers. Existing literature highlights other barriers to exercise that extend beyond the need for social support including negative self-perceptions and inaccessible spaces [44, 45]. Researchers may need to test ways of addressing barriers once a partnership is established. Additionally, if individuals registering for a peer partner program believe that having a peer partner will be the ultimate ‘fix’ leading to exercise behaviour change, it is essential to consider strategies to further support these women to have realistic expectations for a peer partner. Initiatives may need to involve collaborative activities, engaging with motivational interviewing and BCT training, intentional feedback, shared goals and achievements, and general mentoring strategies [46, 47].
Specific to the quantitative findings, the reasons for wanting a partner did not differ based on sociodemographic or cancer-specific demographic factors, except for age. This is important as it may demonstrate that women are expressing similar needs and reasons for seeking exercise partners. Nonetheless, women younger than 50 years of age were more likely to be categorized within the adherence and accountability category. While more women < 50 years of age reported being quite active/very active (32.4%) compared to women > 50 years of age (15.0%) within this sample, similar percentages of women < 50 years of age and > 50 years of age reported never been active/not currently active (32.4% and 31.7%, respectively, See Table 2). Future research may explore why younger participants may be more likely to feel a peer partner may help with adherence and accountability compared to older individuals. Potential reasons may include greater home, family, and childcare responsibilities that are well-documented interferences for exercise [48].
The findings do suggest that reasons to start being active may be an important variable to consider in pairing peer partners. Women reporting wanting to be active for weight loss were more likely to be included within the motivation category and less likely to be included within the social support category. While most women did not indicate that their reason for wanting a partner was tied to weight loss, many women reported weight loss as their reason for wanting to be active. As such, while women expressed other reasons for wanting an exercise partner (e.g., motivation), for many, their desire to be active is tied to weight loss which is an extrinsic motive [49]. Given that the motivation to be active may be tied to weight loss, this highlights the importance of establishing and outlining realistic and achievable goals to be active when beginning an exercise program and prior to the formation of peer partners to ensure mutual goals are being met. If peers are matched based on their reasons for wanting a partner, but their goals are not considered, the partnership may not be a ‘good match’. Asking individuals their reasons for wanting a partner alongside their reasons for wanting to be active may provide greater context to help form successful peer partners.
While this study added to the peer partner literature demonstrating key elements to consider within designing and implementing peer partnership models of exercise programs, a key limitation to address is that the subsequent behaviour change of the individuals being partnered is unknown. As such, we cannot comment on the success rate of the partnerships and the long-term exercise behaviors of the sample. Despite this, a better understanding of the participants’ preferences for wanting a partner was a key focus of this study with the hopes of developing successful peer partner models in future exercise programs that contribute to maintained behaviour change. Additionally, given Active Match is a peer partner physical activity program and the sign-up for Active Match is voluntary, it is assumed that the individuals within this sample had the intention to exercise with a peer partner. The findings, therefore, may not be generalizable to individuals who do not yet have the intention to be active. Lastly, this study only included women participants. Men living with and beyond cancer have unique support needs that need to be explored [50]. Recent qualitative work has begun to address social support needs of men diagnosed and treated with cancer [51, 52]. Future work should continue to explore gender-sensitized programming that is built with the participants’ health and preferences at the forefront of the design and implementation. Ultimately, matching individuals living with and beyond cancer based on their reasons for wanting an exercise partner may contribute to improved peer ‘partner matches’. Exercise programs that prioritize matching peers based on their exercise goals and preferences for a peer may lead to improved behaviour change outcomes given the exercise and social support literature highlights that successful matches are more likely to lead to improved exercise behaviours as well as long-term peer partner communication [34].