It’s like balancing on a slackline—A description of how adults with congenital heart disease describe themselves in relation to physical activity

Aims and objectives To illuminate how adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) describe themselves in relation to physical activity. Background Several studies have shown that adults with CHD have reduced exercise capacity and do not reach the recommended daily level of physical activity. With this in view, it is of immense importance to investigate how this population experiences physical activity. Design Qualitative study with semistructured interviews analysed with qualitative content analysis. Methods Semistructured interviews were individually performed with 14 adults (women = 7, age 19–68 years) with complex CHD. Patients were purposively recruited from the clinic waiting list, based on a scheduled follow‐up and diagnosis. Results The overall theme, It′s like balancing on a slackline, illustrates how adults with CHD described themselves in relation to physical activity. This overall theme consisted of four subthemes: (a) Being an adventurer—enjoying the challenges of physical activity; (b) Being a realist—adapting to physical ability; (c) Being a non‐doer—lacking prerequisites for physical activity; and (d) Being an outsider—feeling excluded depending on physical ability. Conclusions Adults with CHD seem to have a diverse relationship with physical activity and it involves various aspects throughout the lifespan. The findings point out factors that might constitute as obstacles for being physically active, specific for people with chronic conditions like CHD. This highlights the importance of further exploring the hindering and facilitating factors for being physically active to get a deeper understanding of how to support adults with CHD to be physically active. Relevance to clinical practice Given the diverse relationship with physical activity, nurses have to further investigate the patients’ relationship with physical activity, to support a healthy lifestyle. Nurses and allied health professionals should offer individualised exercise prescriptions and education about suitable physical activities in relation to physical ability.