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NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY
ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
Learner: Stephanie A. Huskey
PSY7102
Dr. Barnaby Barratt
Scholarly Writing and Professional
Communication in Psychology
Activity 10: Signature Assignment
Learner Comments
Faculty Use Only
Stephanie…this seems like a solid and successful foundation for your doctoral studies…I still
have some concerns about your presentation, which I have indicated in a few marginal
comments. It has been a pleasure to do this course with you, and I wish you every success in
the future.
Barratt
A
A
July 12, 2011
Stephanie,
It was a pleasure doing the course with you...attached is your final paper...if you need more
feedback, please let me know. I predict great success for you at the University.
Best wishes, Barnaby
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Current Issues in Exercise Adherence
A new exercise class is forming and thirty people enroll; according to statistics, in six
months there will only be fifteen of this original group remaining (McArthur, & Raedeke, 2009).
The dropout rate is not improved in any exercise program; half of all people who begin an
exercise program of any type will quit before the six month mark (McArthur, & Raedeke, 2009).
Why is exercise such a dreadful activity? Could it be that any physical activity is not pleasurable
or that specifically exercise is unfavorable? Are there characteristics of these non-adherers that
could be identified and addressed in an attempt to keep this group from quitting their exercise
program? The concepts of adherence and enjoyment are discussed in relation to these questions.
Adherence
Not exercising may be more about prioritizing than lack of time. Among college students
enrolled in a lifetime physical activity and fitness course, those who reported greater exercise
enjoyment and more use of self-management strategies were also more likely to regularly
participate in physical activity (McArthur, & Raedeke, 2009). Even when facilities are safe and
the built environment encourages physical activity, they aren't always utilized (Matthews &
Yang, 2010). Lack of exercise may not simply be attributed to the safety or location of facilities,
but rather a lack of exercise enjoyment or struggle to handle the before and after aspects of
exercising, like changing, showering, navigating the other exercisers.
One variable that may help understand adherence issues is how and where people
complete their physical activity requirements; different people and lifestyles lend themselves to
varied exercise regimens. There are four life domains in which people tend to cluster their
physical activities: leisure, occupation, transport, and home (Rovniak et al., 2010). That is,
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people accumulate minutes of physical activity either in their free time or after work (leisure), at
a physically demanding job (occupational), walking or biking to their destinations (transport),
playing with their children and completing chores (home), or some combination of the four.
Previous research identified these four life domains and another study attempted to recognize
any patterns that might be predictors of physically active behaviors (Rovniak et al., 2010).
In a study of 1689 residents of the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington
areas who completed mail-in surveys, three clusters emerged: Low Activity, Active Leisure, and
Active Job (Rovniak et al., 2010). The Low Activity group was less likely to have family or
friend support of exercise, perceived fewer benefits of and more barriers to exercise, enjoyed
exercise less, felt there were fewer convenient exercise facilities and less attractive
neighborhoods, had less home exercise equipment, and were not as proximal to restaurants and
stores (Rovniak et al., 2010). The Active Leisure group felt they had more support from the built
environment and psychosocial support (Rovniak et al., 2010). The Active Job group will was
more likely to be male, have less education and income, live in lower income neighborhoods,
were less likely to be homeowners, married, or living with a partner, and mainly active due to
their current occupation (Rovniak et al., 2010). The Low Activity group distinguishes itself from
Active Leisure in ways that can be modified, such as a neighborhood that accommodates safe
physical activity (Rovniak et al., 2010). So, activity levels may be more related to individual
factors rather than domain-specific traits; activity levels were not predicted based simply on
positioning within the life domains but were more a product of several factors that might transfer
across domains.
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Women in particular are at a greater risk for reduced physical activity level (CDC, 1999;
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009) and health psychologists aspire to
understand what separates the adherers and non-adherers. A small qualitative study of nineteen
women who worked at the same university and signed up earlier in the year to participate in a
twelve-week program for sedentary individuals (Huberty et al., 2008). The study was designed
to reveal some of the key thoughts that might be otherwise be overlooked and specifically
address any connections between self-worth and physical activity. The women were divided into
groups and then asked to freely discuss their thoughts and feelings about exercise. Three
discussion groups were arranged: adherers, non-adherers, and combination (Huberty et al.,
2008). Adherers noted motivation, need for support, high body image, enjoyment, prioritizing,
and goal setting as reasons they continued exercising while non-adherers pointed out the need to
feel supported, responsibilities, lack of time/prioritizing, poor body image, guilt, desire for a
better quality of life, lack of motivation, and lack of physical activity enjoyment (Huberty et al.,
2008). Since this study was limited in its size and any conclusions drawn from it may be limited,
the discussions of the main points as aforementioned will be supplemented with other research.
The women who maintained exercise regimens were also more likely to value control and
regulation of their body and schedules (Huberty et al., 2008). Self-monitoring (SM) is
characterized by a system to observe and record specific behaviors; the system may vary but the
existence of a some type of system is important. In one study, self-monitoring combined with
personal exercise coaching increased adherence to a short term program in comparison to just
personal exercise coaching in unfit individuals (Anshel & Seipel, 2009). In this study, the selfmonitoring consisted of a checklist including lifestyle habits, day of exercise, pre-exercise,
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during exercise session, and post-exercise items to rate (Anshel & Seipel, 2009). Strength gains
and aerobic improvements during the eight-week individualized exercise program were
significantly higher in self-monitoring group (Anshel & Seipel, 2009). Of the sixty-five
participants, 74 percent completed all three weekly aerobic sessions but only 46 percent
completed both prescribed weekly strength training sessions (Anshel & Seipel, 2009). During the
third and fourth weeks, adherence was stronger for both groups but then decreased and if
adherence to one type of exercise decreased, so did adherence to the other type (Anshel & Seipel,
2009). For those who struggle with “making” themselves exercise, a self-monitoring worksheet
should be an advantageous supplement to a regular program that does not allow skipping any
workouts and acknowledges a desire to reduce participation in weeks three and four.
The presence of social support, especially in significant others like spouses and children,
can assist individuals in adhering to their exercise plans (Huberty et al., 2008) and even team
building among non-significant other relationships increases attendance and group satisfaction
(Bruner & Spink, 2011). In one study of team building in exercise groups, students from twelve
rural high schools volunteered to participate in an afterschool exercise club and were randomly
assigned to either team building or control teams where the groups met three times per week for
six weeks with workouts lasting sixty minutes (Bruner & Spink, 2011). Team building did not
reduce dropout rates, but attendance in the team building group (during the first weeks) and
overall satisfaction with the group were higher in comparison to the exercise only control group
(Bruner & Spink, 2011). This could be an indicator of an untapped resource in exercise classes;
building the group into a team might make the participants feel more supported and obligated to
attend if not for their own health benefits to support their classmates. In the Huberty et al. (2008)
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study, this could have occurred within the adherer group and supplemented any lack of support
from significant others.
Enjoyment
Lack of exercise enjoyment has been attributed to several factors including a myopic
focus on the beginning of the exercise routine (Ruby, Dunn, Perrino, Gillis, & Viel, 2011).
Potential participants think too much about the beginning of the routine, the myopic focus, where
it is much easier to quit than continue. When exercisers shared the focus throughout the exercise
routine rather than just on the beginning, they reported greater enjoyment, which was usually
incorrectly forecast. Exercisers tend to predict less enjoyment of exercise routines than they
actually experience. There may be a negative stigma attached to exercise or physical activity
that, if broken, could help inactive people be more likely to engage in exercise.
Once in the aerobic exercise class, two factors, enriched leadership and varied steps of the
exercise program, or choreography, can also predict participant enjoyment (Bray, Millen,
Eidsness, & Leuzinger, 2005). Seventy-five women, who reported engaging in one or fewer
exercise sessions per week, participated in this study by completing a forty minute step aerobics
class and completing a survey afterward; some were assigned to one of four experimental
groups: enriched leadership-bland choreography, bland leadership-bland choreography, enriched
leadership-varied choreography, or bland leadership-varied choreography (Bray, Millen,
Eidsness, & Leuzinger, 2005). Enriched leadership provided encouraging feedback and praise
while bland leadership simply directed the class; varied choreography rotated exercises more
often during the class than the bland choreography (Bray, Millen, Eidsness, & Leuzinger, 2005).
Both contributed to the excitement and challenge of a class resulted in increased post-exercise
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feeling states in participants (Bray, Millen, Eidsness, & Leuzinger, 2005). Though they were
classified as novice exercisers, their average body mass index was 22.70, which is classified as
healthy (ACSM, 2008).
Personality traits also factor into exercise enjoyment. Psychologists have identified two
personality traits that may determine how individuals respond to new situations: behavioral
inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system (BAS); individuals scoring higher on
the BAS scale tend to engage more fully in activities, like exercise, that may be new or
challenging whereas individuals scoring higher on the BIS scale are more likely to avoid new
experiences (Schneider & Graham, 2009). In one study of one hundred and forty six adolescents,
individuals with a higher BIS also had a lower cardiovascular fitness rating (VO2) and ended
their exercise session at an earlier time (lower tolerance) while higher BAS scores were related
to enjoyment of exercise (Schneider & Graham, 2009). This could indicate either that the
negative emotions likely experienced during exercise are deterrents or that the BIS tendency to
avoid new activities is responsible for exercising less; this would result in a lower cardiovascular
conditioning score (VO2) and enjoying the task or feeling positive afterward do not always
increase the desire to exercise (Schneider & Graham, 2009).
Imagery is often used with athletes to visualize, arouse, and motivate in preparation for
competition, and can also assist the novice exerciser (Stanley & Cumming, 2010). Various types
of imagery can be utilized for different outcomes; appearance and technique imagery are related
to intent to increase exercise during the first weeks of an exercise program while appearance
imagery alone is related to intent to maintain the exercise program during the latter parts of a
program (Milne, Rodgers, Hall, & Wilson, 2008). Enjoyment imagery is more effective at
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eliciting more positive post-exercise affect (Stanley & Cumming, 2010). Simply imagining
enjoying exercise can make it more enjoyable. If exercisers are expecting to not enjoy the
exercise routine (Bray, Millen, Eidsness, & Leuzinger, 2005), then it will be difficult to imagine
a pleasurable experience. It is speculated that this exercise stereotype may be a primary culprit in
the high dropout rate and might be remedied by alterations in perceptions.
To break this stereotype, using mindfulness, an old concept of non-judgmental
acceptance and awareness of the present moment could be beneficial (Caldwell et al., 2010).
Mindfulness has been increased by participation in movement based activities like Pilates, Taiji
quan, and GYROKINESIS and the combination can also reduce insomnia, reduce negative
arousal, and increase relaxation (Caldwell et al., 2010). Mindfulness can improve health by
reducing stress, reducing unhealthy behaviors and increasing healthy behaviors (Roberts, &
Danoff-Burg, 2010). Self-reported mindfulness, stress, and exercise enjoyment are all very
subjective and are directly related to a person's perception, but could work in tandem if by
simply increasing mindfulness during exercise the person would remain accepting of the activity
itself rather than labeling it with “like” or “dislike.”
If researchers can determine how to increase exercise enjoyment, or simply the
perception of exercise enjoyment, perhaps fewer individuals would be inactive and obese. This
reduced obesity would lessen healthcare costs and the incidence of hypokinetic diseases related
to physical inactivity (CDC, 2010). Thoughtful design of exercise programs to enable participant
enjoyment, an emphasis on either mindfulness or imagery, a recognition of personality
differences, and focus on the beneficial aspects of the exercise rather than the less arousing
beginning of the workout.
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Intervention and Future Directions
To plan a program of intervention designed to increase exercise adherence, several
assumptions must be made. First, it must be assumed that people actually desire to increase their
activity levels. If not, any intervention is more likely to fail. Second, it must be assumed that
these potential exercisers feel held back by something; this may be guilt, lack of time, or lack of
enjoyment when they do exercise. Based on previous research, Gyurcsik, Bray, & Brittain (as
cited in McArthur, & Raedeke, 2009) determined that habits developed in college are more likely
to last into adulthood and Leenders, Sherman, & Ward (as cited in McArthur, & Raedeke, 2009)
found that college is a time when physical activity tends to decrease. Therefore, college students
would be an ideal group for further research into possible interventions.
This ideal intervention would have lectures to discuss and assess feelings of self-worth,
self-management techniques (McArthur, & Raedeke, 2009), personality predictors of behavior
(Schneider & Graham, 2009), and self-monitoring methods (Anshel & Seipel, 2009). The
exercise classes that participants would attend might include dynamic exercise classes with
positive feedback and changing choreography (Bray, Millen, Eidsness, & Leuzinger, 2005), and
training in imagery (Stanley & Cumming, 2010) and mindfulness (Roberts, & Danoff-Burg,
2010). Team building within the groups would also assist with adherence to the program (Bruner
& Spink, 2011). The main goal of this intervention would be to educate these students about the
benefits of exercise, the various types that they might enjoy, and the difficulties with maintaining
regular exercise routines. This intervention could lead to increased levels of physical activity
throughout the lifespan and a passing on of healthy behaviors and ideas to a new generation of
people.
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References
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