Measuring barriers of behavior change: How to better operationalize psychosocial constructs of control

Researchers are generally interested in understanding barriers of behavior change, however current methods used to elicit such information may be confounded with other theoretical constructs such as motivation, and attitudes. The purpose of this study was to understand how distinct methodologies lead to potentially different results when eliciting barriers of physical activity among military spouses. Military spouses were recruited online (n = 253) and randomized into one of four conditions; a standard condition (standard elicitation of barriers); an impossible condition (elicitation using alternative words); an incentive condition (motivation held constant by the use of a hypothetical incentive); or a vignette condition (participants were primed with a vignette to interpret the literal meaning of prevent and enable). Responses were coded into categories and results showed participants reported significantly fewer barriers and enablers for physical activity for all treatment conditions compared to the standard condition. This study sheds light on how barriers of behavior change are studied, and potential problems that occur when attempting to elicit them in research and practice. Careful consideration should be given when eliciting barriers, to assure they are not convoluted with other psychosocial constructs.