Factors associated with adherence to the Academia da Cidade Program in Recife

Abstract

This paper aimed to identify factors associated with adherence to the Academia da Cidade Program (ACP) in Recife. It is a cross-sectional study developed in 20 ACP centers, involving 289 users (93.7% female, 67.1% aged 30-59 years) and 244 former users (91.4% female, 63.5% aged 30-59 years) of the program. We used a self-administered questionnaire for data collection. The dependent variable was adherence to the ACP (starting and staying in it for at least three months), and the independent variables were sociodemographic aspects, participation in the ACP, and variables related to the reasons that led participants to start attending the ACP. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression, in which Odds Ratio (OR) was the measure of association. The results of the multivariable analysis revealed that participants aged 30 or older (OR = 7.18; 95%CI: 2.57-20.03), unemployed (OR = 1.62; 95%CI: 1.01-2.59), who had been attending the ACP for 25 months or longer (OR = 7.41; 95%CI: 3.80-14.46), whose weekly participation frequency was higher than three days (OR = 7.09; 95%CI: 1.81-27.80), and who had started attending the ACP to improve their physical performance (OR = 1.87; 95%CI: 1.17-3.00) and due to the team’s and teacher’s confidence and commitment (OR = 2.78; 95%CI: 1.37-5.64) were more likely to adhere to the ACP. Therefore, the factors associated with adherence to the ACP were related to sociodemographic characteristics, users’ participation in the ACP and reasons that led users to start attending the program.