A full-factorial test of motivational and volitional intervention strategies for promoting exercise habit formation and exercise maintenance among new users of an online exercise class platform
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Date
2024
Authors
More, Kimberly
Lamoureux, Nicholas
Ellingson, Laura
Welk, Greg
Hastings, Bryce
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John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Abstract
Interventions often fail to achieve long-term behavioral maintenance. Utilizing motivational and volitional strategies to promote behavioral maintenance factors may improve this. Using a full-factorial experiment, we tested the effects of three intervention components (focused on intrinsic motivation and identity, exercise preparation habit, and exercise instigation habit) on exercise participation over a year, among new users (N = 751; 91% identifying as female, 54% identifying as White race) of a global, online exercise class platform, run by Les Mills International Ltd, called LM+. We also tested the intervention components' theoretical mechanisms of action—habit formation, intrinsic motivation, identity, and self-efficacy. Multi-level models found some support for a main effect of the exercise preparation habit intervention component in promoting self-reported and objective exercise participation (behavioral outcomes measured via monthly surveys and the LM+ platform; mechanisms measured via monthly surveys)—in particular online exercise class frequency (fixed effect estimate = 0.84, p < 0.05, and = 0.12, p < 0.05, respectively). The preparation habit component also significantly increased preparation habit strength (0.30, p < 0.05) and instigation habit strength (0.33, p < 0.05). Other expected effects were nonsignificant. Helping individuals form an exercise preparation habit may facilitate initiating and maintaining exercise over time, in particular for attending online exercise classes, potentially through promoting greater preparation and exercise instigation habit strength.
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This article is published as Phillips, L. A., More, K. R., Lamoureux, N. R., Dixon, P. M., Meyer, J. D., Ellingson, L., Welk, G., & Hastings, B. (2024). A full-factorial test of motivational and volitional intervention strategies for promoting exercise habit formation and exercise maintenance among new users of an online exercise class platform. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12597.
© 2024 The Author(s). Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Applied Psychology.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
© 2024 The Author(s). Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Applied Psychology.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.