DETERMINANTS OF CONTINUOUS VERSUS INTERMITTENT WALKING BEHAVIOR IN WOMEN

Abstract

1899 Although recent ACSM/CDC physical activity (PA) guidelines call for the accumulation of at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity PA on most days, it is not known if sedentary women prefer to do PA continuously or intermittently. Sixty-four sedentary African American women, 35 to 70 years of age, were interviewed to determine select social cognitive factors(self-efficacy, social support, outcome expectations, and environmental conditions) associated with the initiation and adoption of regular continuous and intermittent walking. Self-efficacy was higher for intermittent walking than for continuous walking (t = -4.7; p <.01), and environmental conditions were more favorable for intermittent walking (t = -2.1; p =.037). Outcome expectations and social support were slightly greater for continuous walking (t = 1.9; p =.062 and t = 2.0; p =.054, respectively). In total, 65.6% reported they would prefer to walk continuously. Half of the women (50.0%) said they are more able to walk continuously; 46.9% said they are more able to walk intermittently; and 3.1% said they are able to do either type of walking. These findings suggest that sedentary African American women may prefer to start with intermittent walking due to higher self-efficacy and better environmental conditions for it; however, because of a preference for continuous walking, they may want to switch to a continuous 30 minute bout of walking for maintenance of physical activity.