Investigating the Relationship Between Quality and Quantity of Participation in an Online Community-Based Exercise Program: A Mixed-Methods Study

The Quality Participation Framework proposes that repeated quality experiences foster continued quality participation (i.e., participation quantity over time). This study explored the relationship between the quality and quantity of participation in an exercise setting. Individuals (n = 17) with a physical disability engaged in Revved Up @ Home, a 10-week online community-based exercise program designed to foster quality participation. Using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design situated in critical realism, participants completed quality experience global questionnaires at baseline and 10 weeks, and acute questionnaires following each exercise session. Participant attendance was retrieved from program records. In semi-structured interviews at 10 weeks, participants were shown graphs of results derived from the acute questionnaires and asked about their quality and quantity of participation during the program. Correlations quantified the relationship between quality and quantity of participation, and thematic analysis facilitated an exploration of the contextual relationship. Qualitative and quantitative findings were integrated, highlighting important relationships between belongingness and quantity, meaning and quantity, as well as between challenge and mastery. Findings provide preliminary evidence that repeated quality experiences foster quality participation, and detail relationships between the aspects of quality participation and between quantity and quality participation. Findings can be used to enhance quality participation and attendance among individuals with physical disabilities who attend community-based exercise programs.