Promoting physical activity: development and testing of self-determination theory-based interventions.

Michelle S Fortier,Pedro J Teixeira,Joan L Duda,Eva Guerin

doi:10.1186/1479-5868-9-20

Abstract

A growing number of studies have pulled from Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory to design interventions targeting health behavior change. More recently, researchers have begun using SDT to promote the adoption and maintenance of an active lifestyle. In this review, we aim to highlight how researchers and practitioners can draw from the SDT framework to develop, implement, and evaluate intervention efforts centered on increasing physical activity levels in different contexts and different populations. In the present paper, the rationale for using SDT to foster physical activity engagement is briefly reviewed before particular attention is given to three recent randomized controlled trials, the Canadian Physical Activity Counseling (PAC) Trial, the Empower trial from the UK, and the Portuguese PESO (Promotion of Health and Exercise in Obesity) trial, each of which focused on promoting physical activity behavior. The SDT-based intervention components, procedures, and participants are highlighted, and the key findings that have emanated from these three trials are presented. Lastly, we outline some of the limitations of the work conducted to date in this area and we acknowledge the challenges that arise when attempting to design, deliver, and test SDT-grounded interventions in the context of physical activity promotion.

Highlights

In this paper, we build a case for Self-Determination Theory’s (SDT) [1,2] relevance in the design, delivery and testing of physical activity (PA) interventions
As the central focus of this paper, we review in detail three large scale randomized controlled trials that have formally tested SDT in applied settings to promote increases in PA, namely (a) the Physical Activity Counseling (PAC) trial conducted in a primary health care setting and based in Canada [3,4], (b) the “Empower” trial, a randomized controlled trial within an exercise on referral scheme in the United Kingdom [5,6] and (c) the “PESO” (Promotion of Health and Exercise in Obesity) trial, conducted in a community context in Portugal [7,8]
SDT draws a distinction between intrinsic motivation, which involves engaging in a behavior for its own sake, and extrinsic forms of motivation

Summary

Introduction

We build a case for Self-Determination Theory’s (SDT) [1,2] relevance in the design, delivery and testing of physical activity (PA) interventions. In terms of intervention content, this trio of interventions revealed many similarities with respect to their adoption of SDT principles to create autonomy-supportive contexts In terms of assessing the degree of autonomy support provided by the HFA in the Empower trial [5], participants’ scores on the HCCQ [45] were generally very high and not significantly different across the SDT intervention and standard provision arms This finding speaks to the point mentioned above with respect to limitations in achieving non-need supportive control groups. As the number of SDT-based RCTs in the PA domain proliferates in coming years, experts are encouraged to generate a quantitative synthesis of the findings to guide future intervention efforts

39. Ajzen I

67. Markland D

69. Reeve J

77. Waller G

Findings

82. Plante TG: Contemporary Clinical Psychology Hoboken NJ