Table 5 Factors influencing program satisfaction

Program convenience

• “My kids want me to join [a] seniors exercise group, but then parking is very expensive there…I can just walk here.”

• “Ten in the morning is perfect for exercise and walking. It’s only an hour and it’s in the morning, and then you’ve done something good and have the rest of the day”

Program novelty

• “My favorite part was going down [to the water] where I haven’t walked before. It was so beautiful and it was a totally new experience because I had never walked down there.”

• “A first I was anxious because of the machines that we will be using… Yeah, I said ‘mhm I can’t remember the name of what we’re doing’ so I said ‘can I get pictures of these machines?’ because my kids will ask me what am I doing or what are the things that I use and I can’t even [tell them].”

Social benefits of exercise

• “I enjoyed the people here; they were all great – very helpful every one of them… Motivation is if you have somebody, I find myself personally, that helps a lot.”

• “I joined the [gym] for a while, well for one month. I went three times and all three times when I asked the girl there at the desk if she would show me how certain machines work, every time, all three times, she said ‘I’m just going on my break in a few minutes’. Yeah, and she’s the only one on the desk, you know that was there to help. Yeah, and it wasn’t a very friendly place anyway. There were just people doing their own thing and yeah… so I cancelled my membership in one month. Yeah I’m not going to put myself through a thing where I’m unhappy because I don’t know what to do and how to do it. When you’re a senior that kind of thing is kind of devastating – when you don’t know how a machine works and you want to get fit, you know.”

• “I enjoyed also the group, the very small group, and it’s good that you get to know these people. And talking while walking is really good too… I didn’t feel tired because I was walking and talking at the same time, so I really enjoyed that.”

• “I liked the walking I guess…because it was outdoors and it was spring and I could see life coming, the return of life.”