Miriam study links psychosocial factors to exercise

PROVIDENCE – A study by researchers at The Miriam Hospital has shown that psychosocial factors such as access to home exercise equipment and the belief that one can succeed affect people’s ability to stick with a fitness regimen.
Only 32 percent of adults in the United States engage in regular exercise. The study, published online by the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, aims to shed some light on why so many people don’t stick with their exercise plans, aiming to improve success rates.
“What influences an individual to become physically active may not necessarily help them maintain their activity level over time, and vice versa,” said lead author David Williams, of Miriam’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. “A better understanding of these variables will help us design more effective interventions that encourage individuals to initiate, and stick with, a physical activity program.”
The study included more than 200 participants (84 percent female) who were already enrolled in a randomized controlled physical activity promotion trial. All were initially sedentary and did not engage in regular physical activity, which was defined as participating in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or at least one hour of vigorous exercise per week.
At six months and a year into the program, participants completed questionnaires that measured 12 variables, including physical activity levels, self-efficacy (or the beliefs about one’s ability to perform and succeed), decisional balance (or perceived beliefs about the pros and cons of physical activity), outcome expectations, physical activity enjoyment, cognitive and behavioral processes of change, perceived satisfaction with physical activity, social support for physical activity from family and friends, and environmental access to convenient facilities, neighborhood and home exercise equipment.
The researchers then set out to find which factors at six months were most likely to predict physical activity levels at 12 months. Overall, self-efficacy emerged as the strongest predictor of physical activity status, with a 139-percent increase in the odds of being active at 12 months. Decisional balance, behavioral processes, outcome expectations and enjoyment were also significant predictors of physical activity.
Access to home exercise equipment was found to be a good predictor of physical activity adoption, but other factors were more important in long-term persistence.
“These findings were a little surprising since they were somewhat contradictory of other theoretical models of physical activity behaviors and interventions,” said Williams, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at The Warren Alpert School of Medicine of Brown University. “Although it’s premature to draw any definitive conclusions, our report suggests some directions for future research.”
The Miriam Hospital, in Providence, is a member of the Lifespan health system and a teaching hospital affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. For more information, go to www.miriamhospital.org.