WEEK 3

Question 1

What are determinants?

Answer 1

Factors that influence behaviours or outcomes.
(e.g. determinants of success; determinants of health;
determinants of exercise behaviour)

Important to understand reasons for physical inactivity
in order to develop relevant interventions
(i.e. what needs to change?)

In the past there has been a certain amount of neglect of the understanding of determinants , often taking a top-down approach. Policy makers, health professionals etc. who decide there needs to be a change and develop interventions for what they think is relevant without the understanding of the target population and the factors that make it easier or more difficult to change their behaviour. Therefore a bottom-up approach would be a more successful approach to better understand the determinants that drive behaviour change

Question 2

Outline determinants and correlates (Bauman et al. Am J Prev Med. 2002)

Answer 2

True determinants are causal (factors that directly affect
exercise behaviour)
- Only identified through rigorous prospective studies

Most research on exercise behaviour relates to correlates (factors associated
with exercise)
- Can be identified through cross-sectional studies

Question 3

Outline the Socioecological model (Sallis et al. Am J Prev Med. 1998)

Answer 3

Social-ecological models provide an overarching framework for understanding the impediments and enablers to physical activity behaviour as it not only focuses on individual characteristics but also considers the social and physical environment context which can include family, friends, neighbourhood associates, formal and informal organisations, design of urban environment and facilities which promote or prevent physical activity [11, 12]. Thus, a social-ecological approach to understanding the influences on physical activity allows researchers to identify vast opportunities to foster the adoption and maintenance of health-enhancing physical activity behaviour, rather than having a traditional isolated focus on intrapersonal factors

Question 4

Describe the findings of the systematic review of 38 studies of exercise correlates in adults (Trost et al. Med Sci Sport Exer. 2002)

Answer 4

Demographic & biological
- Age (lower); sex (♂); education; race (white); socioeconomic status; weight (lower); health; heritability

Psychological
- Barriers (lower); perceived benefits; enjoyment; intention; self-efficacy; mood disturbance (lower); self-motivation; personality; body image

Behavioural
- exercise history; diet; smoking (lower);

Social
- social support (family, peers, doctors)

Environmental
- climate/season; facility access; scenery; safety

Where there is a lower in brackets that demonstrates an inverse relationship whereas most of the others are positive relationships. For example, age and weight - the higher they are the lower their exercise levels