'Finding a good thing': the use of quantitative and qualitative methods toevaluate an exercise class and promote exercise for adults with mobility impairments

Purpose: Physical inactivity in people with severe disabilities is common a nd has severe consequences. Conditioning classes are one way to increase ac tivity and promote its health related outcomes. This paper reports the resu lts of an evaluation of a community based conditioning class for adults wit h mobility impairments. Method: The study uses two methods with two samples: a quantitative self-re port methodology and a quantitative interview. Results: The quantitative evaluation found no significant increases in stan dard self-report measures of physical activity, Functional status, quality of life, depression, or exercise self-efficacy. The lack of significant qua ntitative results may be due to limits in study design. The open-ended qual itative interviews with 16 class participants show important physical, soci al and psychological improvements. The juxtaposition of these two perspecti ves allows researchers to recognize the limitations in their choice of meth ods and the challenges faced by researchers evaluating small community base d programmes for this limited population. Conclusion: In this case, the qualitative evaluation captured the positive experiences of the exercise class participants.