Tailored Activity Goals - an Exercise Prescription Study

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Affect; Physical Activity
• Interventions: Behavioral: Negative Affect Condition; Behavioral: Control Condition; Behavioral: Positive Affect Condition

• Registration Number: NCT02560792
• Lead Sponsor: University of Colorado, Boulder

Brief Summary

The primary goal of this study is to determine experimentally the relationship between affective response to exercise and future exercise behavior. A secondary goal is to examine potential mediators and moderators of this relationship, specifically four variables considered to contribute to the volitional control of exercise behavior - planning, attention, resource commitment, and affect regulation. An additional goal is to examine how symptoms of depression might influence the affective response to exercise, and the relationship between affective response to exercise and exercise behavior.

Detailed Description

The specific aims are as follows:

Aim 1. The first aim is to determine the effectiveness of an experimental manipulation of individuals' affective response to a laboratory-supervised bout of exercise corresponding to a vigorous intensity (just below the ventilatory threshold), compared to a control condition that simply measures individuals' natural affective response to exercise. The investigators will specifically determine the effect of this manipulation on anticipated, experienced and remembered affective response to exercise.

Aim 2. The second aim is to examine individuals' adherence to an exercise prescription over the course of one week that asks them to exercise daily on their own for twenty minutes at the same intensity (as indicated by a heart rate monitor) as the laboratory-supervised exercise session, and to determine whether adherence to this prescription is greater for those who expect exercise to lead to positive affect than those who expect exercise to lead to negative affect, as compared to a control condition.

Aim 3. The third aim is to examine potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between anticipated affect and subsequent exercise behavior, including volitional control of exercise, affect regulation ability, and symptoms of depression.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2009-09
• Primary Completion: 2010-01
• Study Completion: 2010-02
• Study First Submitted: 2015-07-30
• Status Verified: 2015-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2015-09-24
• Last Update Submitted: 2015-09-24
• Study First Posted: 2015-09-25
• Last Update Posted: 2015-09-25

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 101

Inclusion Criteria

• eligible participants will be between the ages of 18 and 39 (for men) and 18 and 45 (for women)
• free of overt disease (as cleared by clinical translational research center medical staff)
• free of mental health conditions other than depression and anxiety (by self-report)
• physically capable of engaging in moderate exercise activity (i.e., no injuries or physical impairments)
• willing to receive a "prescription" for exercise intensity, frequency, and duration, and have access to a computer with Internet connectivity in order to complete the online follow-up survey.

Exclusion Criteria

• elite (i.e., paid) athletes or required to participate in aerobic exercise in conjunction with their occupation (e.g., aerobics instructors)
• women must not be pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the study period
• on any medications for which exercise is contraindicated (as cleared by clinical translational research center medical staff)
• smoker

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Negative Affect Condition	Negative Affect Condition	Participants read that their exercise prescription was a healthy level of intensity for exercise, and then read that most people indicated this level of intensity leads to negative affect. To further encourage participants to think about how the supposed typical affective response might apply to them personally, they were also asked to describe how they thought the exercise might lead to negative feelings.
Control Condition	Control Condition	Participants read that their exercise prescription was a healthy level of intensity for exercise - affect was not mentioned.
Positive Affect Condition	Positive Affect Condition	Participants read that their exercise prescription was a healthy level of intensity for exercise, and then read that most people indicated this level of intensity leads to positive affect. To further encourage participants to think about how the supposed typical affective response might apply to them personally, they were also asked to describe how they thought the exercise might lead to positive feelings.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Days of exercise according to prescription as measured by exercise log	7 days	Number of days of prescribed exercise recorded on exercise log
Days of exercise according to prescription as measured by heart rate monitor	7 days	Number of days of prescribed exercise recorded by heart rate monitor

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Intentions to exercise according to prescription as measured by intention to exercise scale	5 minutes post-intervention	Self-report survey: intention to exercise scale
Volitional control of exercise: Planning as measured by exercise planning scale	7 days post-intervention	Self-report survey: exercise planning scale
Volitional control of exercise: Commitment as measured by commitment to exercise scale	7 days post-intervention	Self-report survey: commitment to exercise scale