Barriers to Physical Activity for the Adult Transgender Population

Exercise has many physical and mental health benefits, but there are several common barriers to
physical activity that the general population faces. Furthermore, it has been shown that
transgender individuals do not participate in physical activity as much as nontransgender
individuals do. This suggests that the transgender population may face additional or unique
barriers to physical activity. The purpose of this study was to further examine and identify these
barriers for adult transgender individuals regardless of whether they decided to, were in the
process of, or completed medical transition. Five categories of physical activity barriers were
analyzed within a survey: time, motivation, accessibility, emotions, and social factors. This
online physical activity questionnaire was distributed to transgender adults 18 years or older over
a course of two months. Twelve responses were received but only nine of those met the inclusion
criteria and were used in the study (n=9). Three questions were asked for each barrier category
and were formatted as a Likert scale. Each question and barrier category was given a score based
on if the responses indicated that particular instance as a barrier to physical activity or not. The
results of the survey responses showed that social factors was the highest reported barrier to
physical activity for transgender adults. Emotions was the second highest reported barrier, while
accessibility was the lowest reported barrier. The responses from this study indicate that
transgender adults do experience different or additional barriers to physical activity when
compared to the general population.