Nursing research on physical activity: a feminist critique

Studies on physical activity have rarely included women as research participants, and have been mainly conducted among Western populations. In this paper, nursing research on women’s physical activity is analyzed and critiqued using a feminist perspective that respects and values women’s own experiences and their diversities. An extensive literature search was conducted using computerized data retrieval systems and 47 empirical studies published in nursing literature were selected and analyzed. The critique is presented with three main themes emerged from the analysis: (a) “without considering women’s own experiences”; (b) “implicit androcentric and ethnocentric assumptions”; (c) “without meaningful interactions”. Based on the analysis, future directions for nursing research on physical activity are proposed.