Reviewer’ s report
Title: Identification of motives and barriers to physical activity of Polish young mothers
Version: 1Date: 26 Apr 2020
Reviewer: Joseph Abi Jaoude
Reviewer's report:
The authors present a cross-sectional study of around 1,000 Polish mothers and analyzed their
level of physical activity and factors associated with physical activity. The authors mainlycompared females from urban and rural areas. The authors show that the level of physical activitywas similar between the 2 groups, however, the types of physical activity differed, with femalesfrom rural areas favoring home exercises, while females from urban areas favors physical activityrelated to their work. The authors also present different motives and barriers of females to physicalactivity.
This study would be interesting to the readers of BMC Women's health as it tackles an interesting
topic in regard to female well-being. The authors present an interesting manuscript.
Few comments:Generally, the text is extremely difficult to read through at every single level. Some sentences are
too long. Some paragraphs are made of only one or two sentences (which is not really aparagraph…). Some grammatical errors. But most importantly, the manuscript is way too long.This should be formatted as a very light read, and the readers of BMC should be able to go
through this article quickly and take key messages (which to me would be the main barriers to
physical activity, as this would be the most interesting and important part of the study). However,the text dwells way too much on repeating minor findings of the study. Also, the authors reportway too much of their results; this should be shortened in a way to report only key findings andleave minor results to the tables.I suggest that the authors review and revise the entire text in that regard.
Other comments are only minor.Abstract:
The conclusion section is too large, I would suggest removing some parts, and adding a bit to theresults section. The reader would want 1 or 2 lines of conclusion not more, but might want somemore results."The main conclusion that arise from the study is to need to make efforts": this is too lengthy andunnecessary, would rephrase into something simpler and more direct, for example: "more effortsare needed…" or something similar.
Background:
A paragraph cannot be made of only one sentence. Please group those together into larger
paragraphs instead of stand-alone sentences."There is evidence to suggest that the onset of parenthood may cause a decline in physical activityof adults [19,20] as it is associated with decreased sleep time, increased stress, anxietyand reduced mental well-being" Why are the authors mentioning sleep time, stress…? Are thoserelevant to the physical activity parts? If not please remove those."The research hypothesis assumes that……small support from their families." Please move thissection to the methods section, as the introduction is a bit lengthy. Also, it is nice to end theintroduction with the goal of the study (since readers often search for that in the introduction end).
Methods:
"In the sampling procedure, in its first step, the quota sampling was applied" Please rephrase.Is it reasonable to divide women equally between rural and urban areas?"357 400", "1 064", the authors could reformat their numbering into "357,400" and "1,064" andchange those in the entire text. Would make things easier to read."until the limit was reached for each province." Could this create a selection bias for people moreinterested answering first? Please add that to the limitations"Descriptive Statistics of Participants" This entire section should be moved to the results section,not the methods. Also this section is way too long, please remove some parts.
Results:
Please add the section on patients characteristics. Also, this information can be added to a table,and only summarized in text.No need to mention Chi square in the text."at p=" no need to say "at", just mention the p-valueThis section is too lengthy and wordy. Please remove some parts. The authors already have acouple of tables, no need to include all the tables' information in text. Try to stick to the important
findings.
Discussion:
The authors should add a limitation section at the end.
Conclusion:
Way too lengthy, please remove a big part of the conclusion. The conclusion should include thetake home message, and the future suggestions. Parts on results discussion should be removed ormoved back to the discussion.
Are the methods appropriate and well described?
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.
YesDoes the work include the necessary controls?
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.
Yes
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.
YesAre you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an
additional statistical review?
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further
assessment in your comments to the editors.
I am able to assess the statisticsQuality of written English
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:
Needs some language corrections before being publishedDeclaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
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