Program providers’ perspective: Recruitment and retention strategies for women in physical activity programs

•We examine program providers’ key perceptions on encouraging women in physical activity programs.•The first core theme to emerge was creating an environment for women to exercise.•The second core theme was facilitating involvement.•The third core theme was promoting the program to the community.•Programs need to link with several related community organisations.This paper examined the perceptions from eight program providers in Victoria, Australia regarding the recruitment and retention of women in physical activity programs. Eight case studies were conducted. Each involved an in-depth interview with a provider of a successful physical activity program for women. Inductive content analysis generated common themes related to key aspects that enable the recruitment or retention of women. Three core themes were identified, namely creating an environment for women to exercise; facilitating involvement; and promoting the program to the community. In this study, we applied the social-ecological model to determine the levels of influence and the opportunities in the core themes to further enable the recruitment and retention of women in physical activity programs. A key conclusion was that links with several related community organisations leads to both the successful recruitment and the enhanced retention of women in physical activity programs.