Facilitating Changes in Exercise Behavior: Effect of Structured Statements of Intention on Perceived Barriers to Action

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Abstract
Two groups of worksite employees (58 in a control, 53 in an experimental group) underwent three 90-min. educational sessions designed to increase participation in exercise. At the end of the third session, experimental subjects were asked to complete a structured statement of exercise intention which addressed the major barrier to exercise. Two weeks following the program, chi-squared analysis showed that the two groups were proportionately different in changes in frequency and intensity of exercise such that the experimental group in both cases showed greater changes than the control. Experimental subjects showed a twofold increase in frequency and intensity of exercise over the control group. Pearson r indicated a statistically significant association between the completeness of structured statements of intention and an increase in frequency of exercise. We conclude that structured statements of intention are useful for distinguishing between contrived barriers to exercise (excuses) and actual barriers that require practical solutions.

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