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A cognitive behavioral intervention examining exercise adherence in college-aged students

Posted on:2010-03-31Degree:Ed.DType:Dissertation
University:Northern Arizona UniversityCandidate:Bycura, DierdraFull Text:PDF
GTID:1447390002477962Subject:Psychology
Abstract/Summary:
This seven-week intervention study was an experiment examining exercise adherence and motivation toward exercise in college undergraduate students. This study examined the role of goal setting and implementation planning on persistence for adopted exercise behavior. Concurrently, drawing from the self-determination theory, questionnaires (BREQ-2) were administered to participants at all three time points to observe the role of motivation within the adoption and maintenance of exercise behavior when setting goals and making plans.;The participants consisted of 84 (N = 84) undergraduate students at enrolled in a University in the southwest United States. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups, control, goal commitment group (committing to a goal of exercising 3 times a week for 20-60 minutes in duration) and an implementation intention plan group (committed to the same goal and also made a plan toward that goal). At the four-week mark (Time 2), participants were informed that they did not have to exercise or stick to their goal/plan and their choice to continue to exercise or use their plan was voluntary. At Time 3, participants were asked about number of days they exercised, whether they continued to exercise, created a plan or used their plan.;Results indicated that all three groups decreased in the number of days exercised from Time 2 to Time 3 with no significant difference in motivation over the three time periods with the exception of the goal commitment group. The goal group had a significant decrease in the number of days exercised from Time 2 to Time 3. The goal group also reported significantly higher levels of introjected regulation of behavior (motivation) from Time 2 to Time 3. Although number of days exercised decreased for both the control and plan groups, 80% of the control group indicated that they made a plan toward exercise and 67% of the plan group reported that they did continue to use the plan they made which supported those groups' non-significant change in exercise behavior from Time 2 to Time 3. It is concluded that making a plan helps with adherence although goals need more autonomy support.
Keywords/Search Tags:Exercise, Adherence, Time, Plan, Goal, Behavior, Motivation
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