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Examining self-affirmation as a tactic for recruiting inactive women into exercise interventions
Kimberly R More1, Leigh Alison Phillips2, Zoie Green2
1Department of Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
Applied Psychology. Health and Well-Being
|September 3, 2021
Summary
Self-affirmation did not improve exercise intervention recruitment for inactive women. Most participants were unwilling to register, highlighting the need for new recruitment strategies for exercise programs.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Science
- Public Health
- Psychology
Background:
- Recruiting inactive individuals for exercise interventions faces significant barriers, including low motivation and negative body image.
- Self-affirmation is a psychological strategy that may mitigate these barriers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if self-affirmation enhances recruitment of insufficiently active women into an exercise intervention.
- To assess the impact of self-affirmation on perceived message threat, exercise intention, and intervention registration interest.
Main Methods:
- Emerging adult women (N=254) were randomly assigned to a self-affirmation or control task.
- Participants read a message about inactivity consequences and then reported intervention interest and exercise intention.
- Baseline measures included demographics and body image.
Main Results:
- Self-affirmation did not reduce perceived message threat or increase exercise intentions.
- The intervention did not significantly improve registration interest for exercise programs.
- No interaction was found between self-affirmation condition and body dissatisfaction.
Conclusions:
- Self-affirmation was ineffective in improving recruitment for this exercise intervention among the studied population.
- A substantial majority (70%) were unwilling to register, indicating a critical need for novel recruitment approaches.
- Further research should explore alternative strategies to overcome barriers in exercise intervention recruitment.
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