Lecture 10: Psychology of physical activity

Question 1

exercise psychology

Answer 1

Exercise psychology: the application of psychology to health enhancing physical activity and exercise

Question 2

benefits of physical activity

Answer 2

• Weight control
  
  • Reduce cardiovascular disease hypertension and risk of some cancers
  • Reduce stress and anxiety and depression
  • Enhanced self-esteem
  • Increased enjoyment and quality of life and mood state
  • Opportunities to socialise

Question 3

Physical activity and the environment

Answer 3

2015

- 34% of men and 42% of women reported not meeting guidelines on physical activity
- Number of people meeting the recommended levels decreases with age
- 23% of boys and 20% of girls aged 5 to 15 meet the guidelines on physical activity for the age group
- 10% of boys and 9% of girls age 2 to 4 years meet guidelines on physical activity for the age group
- National Institute for health and care excellence 2018

Question 4

Reasons for not exercising

Answer 4

• Tobi et al., 2012
  ○ Perceived lack of time and lack of energy and motivation
  ○ All factors individuals can control as opposed environmental factors often out of their control
  
  • Consistent with research showing that the major reasons for attrition in an exercise program or internal aren’t personally controllable causes for example lack of motivation and time management which are amenable to change (Kelly and Kelley, 2012)

Question 5

Reasons attributed to omitting exercise: a population based study (Netz et al., 2008)

Answer 5

• Population study involving 2200 individuals aged 18 to 67
  ○ Important age and gender differences
  
  • Older adults classed as 60 to 78 years
    ○ More health related reasons such as bad house or injury or disability or potential damage to health
    ○ Internal barriers such as not the sporty type
  • Adolescents and college students
    ○ Major barriers similar to older adults such as lack of time
    ○ Other factors included the fact that parents are more interested in academic success or previous physical inactivity

Question 6

sedentary behaviour

Answer 6

• Studying exercise behaviour and ways to increase adherence
  
  • More recently - sedentary behaviour which is a total lack of exercise
  • ‘sitting time’ including sitting at school or work or sitting in a car or sitting watching TV or sitting at a computer
  • Result in specific health outcomes
  • Systematic review of young people aged 5 to 17 years old (Tremblay et al., 2011)
    ○ Decrease fitness lower self-esteem decrease academic achievement higher and less favourable body composition and lower prosocial behaviour
  • Adults (Edwardson et al., 2012; Proper et al., 2011)
    ○ Highest sedentary group had a 73% increased risk of metabolic syndrome compared to those in the lowest sedentary group. Increased sedentary behaviour was related to increase cardiovascular disease.

Question 7

problems of adherenc

Answer 7

• Adherence is attached to or sticking with something
  
  • Prescriptions often based solely on fitness data which ignore psychological readiness to exercise.
  • Most exercise prescriptions overly restrictive and not optimal for enhancing motivation for regular exercise
  • Rigid exercise prescription is based on principles of intensity and duration and frequency and are too challenging for many people especially beginners
  • Traditional exercise prescription does not promote self responsibility or empower people to make long-term behaviour change

Question 8

solution to adherence problems

Answer 8

• Set several small ago was that build towards main goal

However changing behaviour is a complex process

Question 9

theories and models of exercise behaviour

Answer 9

health belief model
theory of planned behaviour
transtheoretical model

Question 10

health belief model

Answer 10

• Attempts to explain and predict health behaviours
  
  • Focus on attitudes and beliefs of individuals
  • Based on following:
    ○ Individual desire to avoid illness or get well in case of current illness
    ○ Individual believes that an exact health act might avoid or treat illness

Question 11

perceived susceptibility

Answer 11

one’s opinion of chances of getting a condition

Question 12

perceived severity

Answer 12

opinion of how serious a condition is and what its consequences are

Question 13

perceived benefits

Answer 13

belief in efficacy of the advised action to reduce risk or seriousness of impact

Question 14

perceived barriers

Answer 14

opinion of the tangible and psychological cases of the advised action

Question 15

cues to action

Answer 15

strategies to activate ‘readiness’

Question 16

self-efficacy

Answer 16

confidence in one’s ability to take action

Question 17

efficacy of health belief model

Answer 17

Although there has been some success in using the health belief model to predict exercise behaviour, the results have been inconsistent because the model was originally developed to focus on disease, not exercise (Berger et al., 2015)

Question 18

theory of planned behaviour

Answer 18

• Ajzen and Madden, 1986
  
  • Extension of theory of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980)
  • Individual performance of a given behaviour is primarily determines by a person’s intention to perform that behaviour
  • Assumptions:
    ○ Human behaviour under the voluntary control of the individual
    ○ People thinking about the consequences and implications of their actions behaviours then decide whether or not to do something
    ○ Therefore intention must be highly correlated with behaviour
    § Whether or not a person intends to perform a health behaviour should correlate with whether or not they actually do the behaviour
  • Intentions cannot be the sole predictors of behaviour
  • Especially in situation which people lack some control over the behaviour
  • Perceived behavioural control (people’s perceptions of their ability to perform the behaviour) will also affect behavioural outcomes (in addition to notions of subjective norms and attitudes).

Question 19

transtheoretical model

Answer 19

• Prochaska et al., 1992
  
  • Argues individuals progress through stages of change and that movement across the stages is cyclic rather than linear because many people do not succeed in their efforts to establish and maintain lifestyle changes.
  • Argues that interventions and information need to be tailored to match the particular stage an individual is in at the time.

Question 20

stages of the transtheoretical model

Answer 20

pre-contemplation
contemplation
preparation stage
action stage
maintenance stage
termination stage

Question 21

pre-contemplation

Answer 21

• Not thinking about changing their behaviour]do not intend start exercising in next 6 months
  
  • Demoralised about ability to change
  • Defensive because of social pressure
  • Uninformed about long-term consequences of their behaviour

Question 22

contemplation stage

Answer 22

• Seriously intend exercising in next 6 months
  ○ However usually remain for 2 years
  
  • Fleeting thought about starting to exercise but is unlikely to act on that thought

Question 23

preparation stage

Answer 23

• Exercising somewhat
  ○ Perhaps fewer than 3 times a week
  ○ Not regular enough to produce major benefits
  ○ Have a plan of action - taken action to make behavioural changes

Question 24

action stage

Answer 24

• Exercise regularly (3+ times a week for 20 mins+
  
  • Been doing fewer than 6 months
  • Last stable stage (tends to correspond with highest risk relapse - easily fall back into old ways)

Question 25

maintenance stage

Answer 25

• Exercising regularly more than 6 months
  
  • Likely to maintain regular exercise
    ○ Problems - boredom or loss of focus
  • Increase self-efficacy to overcome barriers (Fallon et al., 2005)
  • People more intrinsically motivated then extrinsically motivated (Buckworth et al., 2007)

Question 26

termination stage

Answer 26

• Stayed in the termination stage for 5 years, the individual is considered to have exited from the cycle of change and relapse simply does not occur.
  
  • Study of 550+ ppts (Cardinal, 1997), 16% indicated they were in termination stage (criteria of 5+ years of continuous involvement in physical activity and 100% self-efficacy in an ability to remain physically active for life).
  • Concluded that individuals in termination stage are resistant to relapse despite common barriers to exercise such as lack of time, no energy, low motivation, and bad weather.

Question 27

strategies for enhancing exercise adherence

Answer 27

behaviour modification approach

reinforcement approaches

Question 28

behaviour modification approach to enhance exercise adherence

Answer 28

• Planned, systematic application of learning principles to the modification of behaviour
  
  • Behaviour modification approaches produced positive results
  • Prompts/cues:
    ○ A prompt is a cue that initiates a behaviour
    ○ Goal: increase cues for the desired behaviour and decrease cues of competing behaviours
    ○ E.g. posters, slogans, etc.
  • Contracting:
    ○ Ppts enter into a contract with exercise practitioner
    ○ Contract should include realistic goals, dates and consequences (Willis and Campbell, 1992)
    ○ Research shows people who sign have significantly better attendance than those who refuse

Question 29

reinforcement approaches to exercise adherence

Answer 29

charting attendance and participation
self-monitoring
feedback
goal setting

Question 30

charting attendance for enhancing exercise adherence

Answer 30

○ Public reporting increases motivation
○ Performance feedback more effective if it is graph ot=r chart
§ Tell people at glance changes taking place (even small ones) and whether they are on target or not.
§ Important later in program
○ Charting keeps people informed - increased cognitive awareness all that is necessary to bring about changes in the target behaviour