Description
We investigated the efficacy of reinforced Implementation Intentions (IIs) to foster moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a minimally guided mHealth approach using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in a two-arm randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomized into an intervention group (IG; N = 49) and a control group (CG; N = 47) and completed a 4-week EMA with daily assessments of self-reported PA. Additionally, we assessed participants’ PA level with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) at pre-EMA, post-EMA, and follow-up (3 months after). Based on these two outcomes, we compared PA level trajectories between the intervention and control group using linear mixed models. The IG reported more daily MVPA across the 4 weeks of EMA than the CG (IG: M = 28.76 minutes; CG: M = 19.72 minutes; R2 = .08). IPAQ results showed significant increases in weekly PA from pre-treatment to post-treatment and also to follow-up for both groups. However, we found no significant difference in these increases between groups. The EMA data suggests that II-based coaching can moderately increase MVPA engagement with medium effect size. Although this effect of IIs is not reflected in our IPAQ results, the observed MVPA increases of over 50% from baseline to post-EMA and follow-up suggest the daily MVPA tracking induced in our study might have supported MVPA adoption and maintenance. Therefore, the combination of an II-based coaching with daily MVPA tracking appears to be a viable approach for supporting healthy individuals in their journey towards a more physically active lifestyle.
| Period | 6 Sept 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | 38th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society: Health Psychology for a Sustainable Future |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 38 |
| Location | Cascais, PortugalShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |
Research Field
- Exploration of Digital Health