Readiness to exercise: a comparison of 3 instruments and an interview

Area of Science:

• Health Behavior Research
• Exercise Psychology
• Clinical Assessment Tools

Background:

• Assessing exercise readiness is crucial for health interventions.
• Numerous instruments exist for measuring exercise stage of change (ESOC), but comparisons are lacking.
• Optimal tools for healthcare providers remain undetermined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare ESOC classification across three distinct instruments.
• To evaluate the feasibility of a structured, face-to-face interview for ESOC assessment.
• To compare ESOC classification derived from instruments versus interviews.
• To examine demographic influences (sex, age, education) on ESOC classification.

Main Methods:

• Pilot study involving 30 healthy adults.
• Randomized completion of three ESOC instruments (scale-ladder, scale-true/false, scale-5 choice).
• Subsequent completion of a face-to-face structured interview.
• Statistical analysis using weighted kappa for agreement and ANOVA for demographic comparisons.

Main Results:

• Scale-ladder and scale-true/false instruments demonstrated near-perfect agreement (kappa=0.897).
• All instruments showed substantial agreement with the structured interview (kappa=0.620-0.790).
• No significant differences in stage classification were found based on sex, age, or education level.

Conclusions:

• The scale-ladder and scale-true/false instruments are highly comparable for ESOC assessment.
• The structured interview is a feasible and substantially agreeable method for assessing exercise readiness.
• The scale-5 choice instrument may require revision for clarity.
• Further validation of the interview method is recommended for clinical practice.