An investigation of the physical and psychological reasons given for membership non-renewal in a selected community wellness center.

Abstract

This investigation's purpose was to determine reasons influencing 400 former members of a Community Wellness Center not to renew their membership between 1986 and 1988.

After permission was granted by the Center to conduct the study, a review of the literature was conducted in order to develop a questionnaire for data-gathering purposes. The original questionnaire was modified in response to a panel of experts' recommendations which was then followed by conducting a pilot study.

The validated questionnaire was administered via telephone to 319 of a possible 400 former members for a response rate of 79.75 percent.

The telephone survey collected data related to: (a) personal factors--smoking and exercise behaviors, education, exercise, and marital status; (b) program factors including subjects' perceptions of parking convenience, exercise equipment, and fitness instructors; (c) other factors explored spousal support, personal injury, and responsibilities at home and work; and (d) situational determinants such as cost of program, time available, exercise partner and qualifications of the fitness instructor.

The author hypothesized there would not be a significant difference in the manner in which 13 groups (gender, educational levels, etc.) responded to the Likert-style questions. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at the.05 level of confidence. Where the ANOVA showed significant differences in variables possessing more than two sub-groups, a Duncan's Range Test was administered to determine between which variables significance existed.

Results revealed former members tended to be white (93.1%), married (66.7%), and between 20 and 40 years of age (60.2%). Most (64%) worked in a white-collar occupation, were nonsmokers (81.6%), and continued to exercise three days a week (49.7%). More females (48.2%) than males (24.8%) exercised with a friend.

Supervised compared to unsupervised memberships, type of transportation utilized, and gender yielded the most statistically significant differences.

It was concluded that decisions not to renew Wellness Center memberships were caused by a combination of personal, program, and other situational factors.