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Activité physique, santé et vieillissement chez des femmes francophones de l'Ontario*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Natalie Beausoleil  and
Geneviève Martin
Natalie Beausoleil*
Affiliation:
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Geneviève Martin
Affiliation:
Université Laval
*
Les demandes de tirés à part doivent être addressées à : / Requests for offprints should be sent to: Natalie Beausoleil, Ph. D., 53 Long's Hill, St. John's, NL A1C 1V3. ([email protected])
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Abstract

This article discusses qualitative research conducted in minority Francophone communites in Ontario. The perceptions of and participation in physical activity by some thirty women are analysed with respect to sociological foundations and current views on aging. These views apply to individual responsibility for health; to the links between health, beauty, and aging; to participation in sports; to perceptions of masculinity and femininity; and, finally, to the obligation to remain physically active at all stages of life. The results of the study among women grouped into three age brackets reveal that, although these women have adopted a view of individual responsibility for health and the prevention of the harmful effects of aging through regular physical exercise, they may also be seen as subjects who find strategies in their daily lives to avoid falling prey to the pressures of health and beauty standards regarding aging, to face limitations, and to develop a healthy way of experiencing the aging process.

Résumé

Cet article fait état d'une recherche qualitative réalisée en milieu francophone minoritaire ontarien. Les perceptions et les pratiques de l'activité physique d'une trentaine de femmes sont analysées en regard de fondements sociologiques et de discours actuels sur le vieillissement. Ces discours portent sur la responsabilité individuelle de la santé, sur les liens entre la santé, la beauté et le vieillissement, sur la pratique des sports, la masculinité et la féminité et enfin sur l'obligation de l'activité physique à tous les cycles de vie. Les résultats de l'étude auprès de femmes regroupées en trois tranches d'Çge permettent de réaliser que si ces femmes ont adopté le discours de la responsabilité individuelle pour la santé et la prévention des effets néfastes du vieillissement par l'exercice physique régulier, elles peuvent aussi etre vues comme des sujets trouvant dans leur vie quotidienne des stratégies pour ne pas subir les pressions des normes de santé et de beauté liées au vieillissement, pour faire face aux contraintes et pour développer une façon saine de vivre le vieillissement.

Keywords

agingwomenphysical activitybodyhealthsportsvieillissementfemmesactivité physiquecorpssantésport
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , Fall/Automne 2002 , pp. 443 - 454
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2002

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Footnotes

*

Nous tenons à remercier Madame Daphne Nahmiash, Madame Julie Beausoleil et les deux évaluatrices anonymes pour leurs précieux commentaires sur le texte initial.

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