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Published on: March 7, 2019
Exercise Self-Efficacy as a Mediator between Goal-Setting and Physical Activity: Developing the Workplace as a
Yoshie Iwasaki1, Sumihisa Honda2, Shuji Kaneko3
1Department of Human Intelligence Systems, Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan; Department of Health Care, NEC Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.
Background:
Physical activity (PA) is ranked as a leading health indicator and the workplace is a key setting to promote PA. The purpose of this study was to examine how goal-setting and exercise self-efficacy (SE) during a health promotion program influenced PA level among Japanese workers.
Methods:
Using a cross-sectional study design, we surveyed 281 employees. The short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess PA level. Exercise SE was assessed using a partially modified version of Oka's exercise SE scale. Personal goals were assessed as the total numbers of "yes" responses to five items regarding "details of personal goals to perform PA". A mediational model was used to examine whether exercise SE mediates between the number of personal goals and PA level.
Results:
The mean age of the participants was 46.3 years, 76.2% were men, and the most common occupational category was software engineer (30.6%). The average PA level per week exceeded the recommended level in 127 participants (45.2%). One hundred and eighty-four participants (65.5%) set some form of concrete personal goal to perform PA. The relationship between the number of personal goals and PA level was mediated by exercise SE.
Conclusion:
Our study showed that exercise SE mediates goal-setting and increases PA. The results suggest that the components of PA promotion programs should be tailored to enhance participants' confidence in performing PA.
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