Autonomy-supportive Intervention Research Articles

Development and evaluation of measures to assess self-determination in peripartum contraceptive decision-making

ObjectivesWe aimed to adapt and validate person-centered measures to evaluate various contributors to self-determination in perinatal contraceptive decision-making. Study designWe developed and administered four scales adapted from existing measures in the context of Self-Determination Theory: the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire (TSRQ), Perceived Competence Scale, modified Health Care Climate Questionnaire, and Important Other Climate Questionnaire. The TSRQ consists of three subscales: autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation. We recruited a nonprobability convenience sample of 300 hospitalized postpartum patients in Baltimore, MD, between 2015 and 2016 and administered surveys in English and Spanish. We validated the scales with Cronbach's alpha coefficients, confirmatory factor analysis, and invariance analysis. We examined construct validity by testing correlations between the scales and other person-centered measures, such as satisfaction with counseling. ResultsCronbach's alpha was >0.8 except for the amotivation subscale. Confirmatory factor analysis was adequate for all scales. Autonomous motivation correlated positively and significantly with perceived competence, health care provider autonomy support, important other autonomy support, and other measures of patient satisfaction. ConclusionsWe found the four scales to be internally consistent and valid except for the amotivation subscale. We recommend using the autonomous motivation subscale in place of the full TSRQ. The autonomous motivation subscale, Perceived Competence Scale, modified Health Care Climate Questionnaire, and Important Other Climate Questionnaire showed adequate internal consistency, construct validity, and adherence to the expected conceptual structure of the scales. ImplicationsAutonomous decision-making is central to ethics and quality of care, especially for contraceptive methods that require a provider for initiation or discontinuation and at more vulnerable times, such as postpartum and postabortion. These scales may help tailor person-centered and autonomy-supportive interventions and programs to improve contraceptive counseling and care delivery.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Study of a Multimodal Intervention vs. Cognitive Training to Foster Cognitive and Affective Health in Older Adults.

Research over the past few decades has shown the positive influence that cognitive, social, and physical activities have on older adults’ cognitive and affective health. Especially interventions in health-related behaviors, such as cognitive activation, physical activity, social activity, nutrition, mindfulness, and creativity, have shown to be particularly beneficial. Whereas most intervention studies apply unimodal interventions, such as cognitive training (CT), this study investigates the potential to foster cognitive and affective health factors of older adults by means of an autonomy-supportive multimodal intervention (MMI). The intervention integrates everyday life recommendations for six evidence-based areas combined with psychoeducational information. This randomized controlled trial study compares the effects of a MMI and CT on those of a waiting control group (WCG) on cognitive and affective factors, everyday life memory performance, and activity in everyday life. Three groups, including a total of 119 adults aged 65–86 years, attended a 5- or 10-week intervention. Specifically, one group completed a 10-week MMI, the second group completed 5-week of computer-based CT followed by a 5-week MMI, whereas the third group paused before completing the MMI for the last 5 weeks. All participants completed online surveys and cognitive tests at three test points. The findings showed an increase in the number and variability of activities in the everyday lives of all participants. Post hoc analysis on cognitive performance of MMI to CT indicate similar (classic memory and attention) or better (working memory) effects. Furthermore, results on far transfer variables showed interesting trends in favor of the MMI, such as increased well-being and attitude toward the aging brain. Also, the MMI group showed the biggest perceived improvements out of all groups for all self-reported personal variables (memory in everyday life and stress). The results implicate a positive trend toward MMI on cognitive and affective factors of older adults. These tendencies show the potential of a multimodal approach compared to training a specific cognitive function. Moreover, the findings suggest that information about MMI motivates participants to increase activity variability and frequency in everyday life. Finally, the results could also have implications for the primary prevention of neurocognitive deficits and degenerative diseases.

Barriers and facilitators to providing autonomy supportive counselling to individuals seeking treatment for an eating disorder.

Self-determination theory suggests that autonomous motivation for change (i.e., motivation that is internal and self-endorsed) can be enhanced in therapeutic contexts by clinicians acting in an autonomy supportive manner. While previous research has established a link between autonomy support (AS) and autonomous motivation in enhancing outcomes in eating disorder (ED) treatment, few studies have examined factors that support or hinder therapists' ability to be autonomy supportive in the context of an ED therapeutic encounter. The goal of the present study was to conduct a qualitative analysis of personal and contextual factors that facilitated or hindered therapists' ability to provide autonomy supportive interventions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 therapists conducting outpatient psychotherapy at a specialized eating disorders treatment program. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The most frequently noted facilitators were organizational support of AS interventions and patients' engagement and motivation for treatment. The most frequently noted barriers were patients' personality variables such aspatients that exhibit passive and help-rejectingbehaviours, as well as therapists feeling overwhelmed due to a high workload. Our results provide insight into the factors that facilitate and impede the utilization of an autonomy supportive approach in specialized ED treatment and can be used to inform future quantitative research on such factors. Level V: Opinions of respected authorities, based on descriptive studies, narrative reviews, clinical experience, or reports of expert committees.

Web-Based and Face-To-Face Autonomy-Supportive Intervention for Physical Education Teachers and Students' Experiences.

The most of the previous autonomy-supportive interventions conducted have been partially effective and used only web-based or face-to-face approach. In the current study, a combined web-based and face-to-face intervention for physical education (PE) teachers was tested to examine whether it would lead to significant changes in students' self-reports of autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviours, psychological need satisfaction and frustration, and intrinsic motivation. Participants were 57 PE teachers (Mage = 45.70, SD = 12.79) and their 858 middle-school students (Mage = 13.22, SD = 0.75). A randomized controlled design was adopted in which PE teachers and their students were assigned to the combined face-to-face and web-based, face-to-face alone, web-based alone or control group. Face-to-face intervention was provided to PE teachers within one day in an 8-hour workshop and web-based intervention was provided to PE teachers for a period of four weeks. The combined face-to-face and web-based intervention group was the only study group that demonstrated statistically significant changes in all the study variables (i.e., significant increase in cognitive, organisational, and procedural autonomy-supportive behaviour, in psychological need satisfaction for autonomy, competence and relatedness, and in intrinsic motivation, whereas significant decrease in intimidation, controlling use of grades, and negative conditional regard, and in psychological need frustration for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) compared to the control group at a one-month follow-up. There were no significant differences in any of the study variable, except organisational autonomy support and intimidation, between the web-based intervention group and face-to-face intervention group. Both web-based and face-to-face study group students reported significant gains in most of the study variables compared to the control group students at a one-month follow-up. The current findings suggest that future autonomy-supportive interventions for PE teachers should aim to use combined interventions of face-to-face and web-based approach to gain the greatest intervention effects.

Effects of a Web-Based Autonomy-Supportive Intervention on Physical Education Teacher Outcomes

The current study tested the efficacy of a web-based autonomy-supportive intervention program on changes in physical education (PE) teachers’ self-reports of autonomy support, psychological need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and teaching efficacy for students’ engagement. In this study, 101 secondary school PE teachers and their 652 students were randomized either to a web-based autonomy-supportive experimental group or to the control group. Manipulation checks indicated that the intervention was effective as students perceived the experimental group PE teachers as more autonomy-supportive and less controlling compared to the control group at the one-month follow-up. In the main analysis, results of the path analysis demonstrated direct effects of the intervention on changes in teachers’ self-reported autonomy-supportive behaviour, and on teaching efficacy for students’ engagement. There were also significant direct effects from changes in autonomy-supportive behaviour on changes in psychological need satisfactions, from psychological need satisfaction on intrinsic motivation, and from intrinsic motivation on teaching efficacy for students’ engagement. Finally, the intervention had an indirect effect on changes in teaching efficacy for students’ engagement via changes in teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviour, psychological need satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation. These findings provided insight on the effects of a web-based autonomy-supportive intervention for PE teachers on several teachers’ outcomes in the context of PE.

The impact of an autonomy-supportive yoga intervention on self-determination in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of an autonomy-supportive yoga intervention on the self-determination of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Research supports the use of autonomy-supportive interventions to increase positive health outcomes with this population. The present study utilized a qualitative approach with eight subjects participating in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Content analysis identified support for three themes related to the impact of yoga: autonomy, relatedness, competence. The results suggested that the yoga intervention may support self-determination for adults with IDD, as the participants’ responses demonstrated increased feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The results also indicated that an autonomy-supportive yoga intervention can be achieved with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities by targeting the key constructs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

Self-determination theory interventions versus usual care in people with diabetes: a protocol for a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis

BackgroundExisting self-management and behavioural interventions for diabetes vary widely in their content, and their sustained long-term effectiveness is uncertain. Autonomy supporting interventions may be a prerequisite to achieve ‘real life’ patient engagement and more long-term improvement through shared decision-making and collaborative goal setting. Autonomy supportive interventions aim to promote that the person with diabetes’ motivation is autonomous meaning that the person strives for goals they themselves truly believe in and value. This is the goal of self-determination theory and guided self-determination interventions. Self-determination theory has been reviewed but without assessing both benefits and harms and accounting for the risk of random errors using trial sequential analysis. The guided self-determination has not yet been systematically reviewed. The aim of this protocol is to investigate the benefits and harms of self-determination theory-based interventions versus usual care in adults with diabetes.Methods/designWe will conduct the systematic review following The Cochrane Collaboration guidelines. This protocol is reported according to the PRISMA checklist. A comprehensive search will be undertaken in the CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, PsycINFO, SCI-EXPANDED, CINAHL, SSCI, CPCI-S and CPCI-SSH to identify relevant trials. We will include randomised clinical trials assessing interventions theoretically based on guided self-determination or self-determination theory provided face-to-face or digitally by any healthcare professional in any setting. The primary outcomes will be quality of life, mortality, and serious adverse events. The secondary will be diabetes distress, depressive symptoms and adverse events not considered serious. Exploratory outcomes will be glycated haemoglobin and motivation. Outcomes will be assessed at the end of the intervention and at maximum follow-up. The analyses will be performed using Stata version 16 and trial sequential analysis. Two authors will independently screen, extract data from and perform risk of bias assessment of included studies using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Certainty of the evidence will be assessed by GRADE.DiscussionSelf-determination theory interventions aim to promote a more autonomous patient engagement and are commonly used. It is therefore needed to evaluate the benefit and harms according to existing trials.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42020181144

Autonomy-supportive teaching: Its malleability, benefits, and potential to improve educational practice

Autonomy-supportive teaching is the adoption of a student-focused attitude and an understanding interpersonal tone that enables the skillful enactment of seven autonomy-satisfying instructional behaviors to serve two purposes—support intrinsic motivation and support internalization. Using self-determination theory principles and empirical findings, researchers have developed and implemented numerous teacher-focused and methodologically-rigorous interventions to provide teachers with the professional developmental experience they need to learn how to become more autonomy supportive. The findings from 51 autonomy-supportive teaching interventions (including 38 randomized control trials) collectively show that (1) teachers can learn how to become more autonomy supportive during instruction (autonomy-supportive teaching is malleable) and, once learned, (2) this greater autonomy-supportive teaching produces a wide range of educationally important student, teacher, and classroom climate benefits (autonomy-supportive teaching is beneficial). Recognizing this, the article shows how the recent surge in autonomy-supportive intervention research has advanced the conceptual understanding of the nature of autonomy-supportive teaching and clarified its potential to improve educational practice.

Improving Diabetes Management in Emerging Adulthood: An Intervention Development Study Using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy.

BackgroundPoor diabetes self-management in emerging adulthood (age 18-25 years) is associated with poorer diabetes health and diabetes complications. Emerging adults’ focus on individuation and independence underlies their poor diabetes outcomes, offering a lever for behavior change. Self-determination theory (SDT) suggests that interventions leveraging emerging adults’ innate developmental need for autonomy may offer a route to improving diabetes outcomes by increasing feelings of responsibility for and control over diabetes self-management activities.ObjectiveThis research project will use the multiphase optimization strategy to test the efficacy of three autonomy-supportive intervention components to elicit a clinically significant improvement in metabolic control, assessed by a 0.5% improvement in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), among older adolescents and emerging adults (16-25 years) with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes (T1D; HbA1c≥9.0%).MethodsA question prompt list (QPL) is a tool to empower patients to assume a more active role during medical visits by asking questions and stating concerns. The motivation enhancement system (MES) is a brief counseling intervention that uses motivational interviewing communication strategies to build intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy for self-management. Text message reminders to complete diabetes care tasks may increase self-efficacy for diabetes self-management. After refining these intervention components for emerging adults, we will conduct a component selection experiment using an eight-arm full factorial design: 2 (QPL yes or no)×2 (MES yes or no)×2 (Text yes or no). Participants will complete 3 study visits: baseline, treatment end at 2 months, and a follow-up at 6 months. The primary outcome is metabolic control, which will be measured via HbA1c. Secondary outcomes include diabetes management and diabetes clinic attendance. SDT constructs of intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and the quality of the patient-provider relationship (ie, relatedness) are hypothesized mediators. Depression symptoms and emerging adults’ gender are hypothesized moderators. We will use the mixed-effects linear model for the analysis of variance of a factorial design to analyze continuous longitudinal experimental data; the generalized linear model will be used with categorical outcomes (eg, treatment attendance). The experiment was powered to detect the main effects of the intervention on the primary outcome.ResultsA total of 20 participants have enrolled and completed a qualitative interview after reviewing one or more intervention components. Analysis of interview data are underway, with a report of these results anticipated in the fall of 2020. The clinical trial will be launched in the fall 2020, with participants enrolled through May 2023 and data collection continuing through November 2023.ConclusionsAt the end of this experiment, we will have empirical evidence to support a large-scale, multisite effectiveness trial of an intervention package that has been optimized for older adolescents and emerging adults with poorly controlled T1D.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04066959; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04066959International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/20191

Testing a physical education-delivered autonomy supportive intervention to promote leisure-time physical activity in lower secondary school students: the PETALS trial

BackgroundInadequate physical activity in young people is associated with several physical and mental health concerns. Physical education (PE) is a potentially viable existing network for promoting physical activity in this population. However, little research has been conducted on whether PE teachers can influence students’ engagement in leisure-time physical activity. The present study therefore examined the efficacy of an intervention aimed at increasing PE teachers’ autonomy support on students’ leisure-time physical activity (the PETALS trial). The intervention was guided by the trans-contextual model (TCM) explaining the processes by which PE teachers’ provision of autonomy support during PE promotes students’ motivation and engagement in physical activity in their leisure time.MethodsThe study adopted a cluster-randomized, waitlist control intervention design with randomization by school. Participants were PE teachers (N = 29, 44.83%female; M age = 42.83, SD = 9.53 yrs) and their lower secondary school students (N = 502, 43.82%female; M age = 14.52, SD = 0.71 yrs). We measured TCM constructs, including perceived autonomy support, autonomous motivation in PE and leisure time, beliefs and intentions towards leisure-time physical activity, and physical activity behavior at baseline, post-intervention, and at one-, three-, and six-months. Study hypotheses were tested through a series of ANOVAs and structural equation models using post-intervention and one-month follow-up data.ResultsWe found no changes in TCM constructs or physical activity behavior in either group at post-intervention or at 1 month. Path analyses supported two propositions of the TCM as change variables: perceived autonomy support had a significant effect on autonomous motivation in PE and autonomous motivation in PE had a significant effect on autonomous motivation in leisure time. Although we found a direct effect of autonomous motivation in leisure time on physical activity, we did not find support for the third premise of the TCM that autonomous motivation in leisure time indirectly affects physical activity through beliefs and intentions.ConclusionsCurrent findings did not support the efficacy of the PETALS intervention at changing physical activity behavior and TCM constructs. More research is required to determine whether the TCM predictive validity is supported when other model variables are manipulated through experimental and intervention studies.Trial registrationISRCTN, ISRCTN39374060. Registered 19 July 2018. Prospectively registered.

The relationship between intrinsic motivation and learning outcomes in problem-based learning

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between intrinsic motivation and learning outcomes of nursing college students who took the Fundamentals of nursing as a problem-based learning method.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we identified the intrinsic motivations of 114 nursing students who completed problem-based learning using the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. The t-test was conducted to identify differences according to intrinsic motivation, and correlation analysis was performed to confirm the relationship between intrinsic motivation and learning outcomes.Results: The group with higher intrinsic motivation showed higher scores in all domains of self-assessed learning outcomes than the lower group. It was the ‘Relatedness with an instructor’ that showed the highest correlation with the learning outcomes in the domains of intrinsic motivation.Conclusion: Problem-based learning is an effective learning method for cultivating the competencies needed for nurses. The intrinsic motivation of students is an important factor in the performance of problem-based learning. For the efficiency of problem-based learning, efforts should be made to develop and apply autonomy-supportive interventions that can enhance intrinsic motivation.

Effects of a School-Based Intervention on Motivation for Out-of-School Physical Activity Participation

ABSTRACT Purpose: We tested the effects of an autonomy-supportive intervention in physical education (PE) on high-school students’ autonomous motivation in PE, and their autonomous motivation, intentions, and physical activity (PA) behavior in a leisure time guided by the trans-contextual model. Method: PE classes in two schools were assigned to receive either an autonomy-supportive intervention and/or a control intervention via random allocation by the school. The PE teacher of the school assigned to the autonomy-supportive intervention was trained to provide autonomy support while the PE teacher of the school assigned to the control intervention received no training. Students (N = 256) in all classes completed measures of perceived teacher autonomy support, autonomous motivation in PE and leisure time, and beliefs, intentions, and PA in leisure time before and immediately after the intervention. Results: Results revealed direct effects of the autonomy-supportive intervention on changes in perceived autonomy support. However, there were no direct intervention effects on change in intentions and PA behavior. The intervention also had indirect effects on changes in autonomous motivation in PE and leisure time. Additionally, change in perceived autonomy support had direct effects on change in autonomous motivation in PE and indirect effects on change in leisure-time autonomous motivation. Changes in autonomous motivation in leisure time had direct effects on changes in beliefs and indirect effects on changes in intentions and PA behavior through changes in beliefs. Conclusion: The study provides valuable information on the effect of autonomous supportive climate on students’ beliefs toward PA in PE lessons and in their leisure time outside of school.

An autonomy-supportive intervention to develop students’ resilience by boosting agentic engagement

In the face of everyday classroom challenges, students display resilience by responding with increased agentic engagement. We hypothesized that this tendency toward greater initiative and lesser passivity was both an outcome of autonomy need satisfaction and autonomy-supportive teaching and a predictor of students’ future capacity to experience autonomy satisfaction and to recruit autonomy support. Twenty-two physical education (PE) teachers and their 1,422 Korean students (648 females, 773 males; 929 middle schoolers, 493 high schoolers) were randomly assigned to participate in an autonomy-supportive intervention program (ASIP), and we assessed their students’ autonomy satisfaction, autonomy dissatisfaction, agentic engagement, and agentic disengagement at the beginning, middle, and end of an academic year. By midyear, a multilevel structural equation modeling analysis showed that students of teachers who participated in the ASIP reported greater autonomy satisfaction and agentic engagement and lesser autonomy dissatisfaction and agentic disengagement and also that these gains in agentic engagement and declines in agentic disengagement then predicted those students who were able at year-end to self-generate autonomy need satisfaction and recruit teacher-provided autonomy support.

An intervention to help teachers establish a prosocial peer climate in physical education

When teachers participate in an autonomy-supportive intervention program (ASIP), they learn how to adopt a motivating style toward students that is capable of increasing need satisfaction and decreasing need frustration. Given this, we tested whether an ASIP experience might additionally help teachers establish a peer-to-peer classroom climate that is capable of increasing prosocial behavior and decreasing antisocial behavior. Forty-two secondary grade-level physical education teachers (32 males, 10 females) and their 2739 students were randomly assigned into either an ASIP or a no-intervention control condition, and their students completed a questionnaire four times over an academic year to assess their need satisfaction and frustration, task-involving and ego-involving peer climates, prosocial and antisocial behaviors, and academic success. Teacher participation in the ASIP increased students' T2, T3, and T4 perceived autonomy-supportive teaching, need satisfaction, peer task climate, prosocial behavior, and academic success, and it also decreased students' T2, T3, and T4 perceived controlling teaching, need frustration, peer ego climate, and antisocial behavior. A multilevel structural equation modeling analysis showed that intervention-enabled increases in T2 peer task-involving climate longitudinally increased students' subsequent T3 and T4 prosocial behavior, while the intervention-enabled decreases in T2 peer ego-involving climate longitudinally decreased students’ subsequent T3 and T4 antisocial behavior. Autonomy-supportive teaching is therefore a precursor to the establishment of a prosocial-boosting and an antisocial-diminishing peer-to-peer classroom climate.

Effects of a Web-Based Intervention for PE Teachers on Students' Perceptions of Teacher Behaviors, Psychological Needs, and Intrinsic Motivation.

Interventions based on self-determination theory to help teachers support their students' autonomy have measured teachers' autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors as unidimensional constructs. This study investigated whether a Web-Based Autonomy-Supportive Intervention Program (WB-ASIP) for physical education (PE) teachers would alter their students' perceptions of (a) the teachers' multidimensional autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors, (b) their own psychological need satisfaction and frustration, and (c) perceived intrinsic motivation. We found that WB-ASIP significantly increased students' perceptions of all autonomy-supportive teacher behaviors and students' need satisfaction. At follow-up, we found that WB-ASIP led to a significant decrease in students' perception of teacher intimidation behaviors and students' autonomy frustration. These results suggest that a web-based intervention program to enhance PE teachers' autonomy-supportive behavior and minimize their controlling behavior was partially effective in positively changing their students' perceptions.

Beneficial for some or for everyone? Exploring the effects of an autonomy-supportive intervention in the real-life classroom.

The present study investigated whether an autonomy-supportive intervention influenced students’ need satisfaction, achievement emotions, and strategies of self-regulated learning differently depending on several student characteristics. The study was conducted with a sample of 345 9th-grade students in 17 physics classrooms who were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control condition. In both conditions, their physics teachers taught a standardized teaching unit on heat transfer that either entailed autonomy support (via provision of choices, provision of rationales, and informational language) or was taught using the regular teaching style. A range of student characteristics (gender, prior physics grades, physics-related effort, interest, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and perceived autonomy in physics class) were considered as potential moderators. The differential effectiveness of the autonomy-supportive intervention was investigated using the EffecLiteR approach. Both the average effects of the intervention and conditional effects (i.e., distinct interactions of the intervention with each of the student characteristics) were investigated. Analyzing average treatment effects revealed that the autonomy-supportive intervention had a positive impact on all outcomes. The intervention fostered need satisfaction, positive achievement emotions, and learning behaviors and reduced negative emotions. Moreover, the results showed that students’ prior grades moderated the effects of the intervention with regard to 3 outcomes: Students with higher grades reported greater optional choices, joy and effort. These findings point to the benefits of providing autonomy support in physics and demonstrate the relevance of conducting a detailed analysis of the differential effects of motivational interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Autonomy support in physical education promotes autonomous motivation towards leisure-time physical activity: evidence from a sample of Chinese college students.

Based on the trans-contextual model, two studies aimed to test whether autonomy-supportive physical education (PE) promotes autonomous motivation towards leisure-time physical activity among Chinese college students. Study 1 was conducted in September 2015 and used a cross-sectional design. Participants were students who provided data on perceived autonomy support and motivation for physical activity. Regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Study 2 took place from September to December 2015 and employed an experimental design. Participants were PE teachers and their students. The teachers were randomized to either an intervention or a control group and those in the intervention group received a 3-month long autonomy-supportive intervention program. Their students provided data on motivation. The data were analyzed with repeated measurement analysis of variance. A total of 681 students aged 16-26 years participated in Study 1. Perceived autonomy support predicted autonomous motivation in PE (β = 0.18, P = 0.001), which in turn predicted autonomous motivation towards leisure-time physical activity (β = 0.51, P = 0.001). Ten PE teachers (28-53 years) and 258 students (16-26 years) participated in Study 2. Students who were educated by the intervention teachers had significantly stronger autonomous motivation towards leisure-time physical activity than students educated by the control teachers after the intervention, (F = 12.41, P = 0.001). The results suggest that PE may serve as an effective platform to promote an active lifestyle among Chinese college students when teachers provide students with an experience of autonomy.

Recommending goals and supporting needs: An intervention to help physical education teachers communicate their expectations while supporting students’ psychological needs

ObjectiveWe expanded a traditional teacher-focused autonomy-supportive intervention program (ASIP Only) to design and implement a new autonomy-supportive plus intrinsic goals intervention (ASIP + Intrinsic Goals) to determine if student outcomes would be greater than those observed in a traditional ASIP. DesignExperimental, longitudinal. MethodThirty-two experienced PE teachers (6 women, 26 men; 26 middle, 6 high school) and their 2313 students were randomly assigned into one of three conditions: an ASIP Only experimental condition, an ASIP + Intrinsic Goals experimental condition, or a no-intervention control condition. For the data collection, students reported their need satisfaction, need frustration, intrinsic goal pursuits, physical self-concept, and problematic peer relationships at the beginning, middle, and end of a semester. ResultsAs expected, students of teachers who participated in the ASIP Only intervention showed gains in all dependent measures, compared to students of teachers in the control condition. The new finding was that students of teachers who participated in the ASIP + Intrinsic Goals intervention showed further gains in all dependent measures, compared to students of teachers in the ASIP Only condition. ConclusionPE teachers in the new ASIP + Intrinsic Goals intervention generated even greater student benefits than did PE teachers in the traditional ASIP Only intervention.

A needs-supportive intervention to help PE teachers enhance students' prosocial behavior and diminish antisocial behavior

ObjectivesGrounded in self-determination theory's dual-process model, we implemented an autonomy-supportive intervention program (ASIP) to help physical education (PE) teachers become more autonomy-supportive and less controlling toward their students. We tested whether such changes in teachers' classroom motivating styles could promote students' prosocial behaviors and diminish their antisocial behaviors. DesignWe used an experimental research design to manipulate teachers' motivating style and a three-wave longitudinal design to assess the student-reported dependent measures. MethodWe randomly assigned secondary-grade PE teachers (8 women, 25 men) to participate or not in the ASIP. At mid-semester, classroom observers rated teachers' autonomy-supportive and controlling instructional behaviors. At the end of the semester, teachers rated their students' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. At the beginning, middle, and end of the semester, the 1824 students of these teachers completed measures of need satisfaction, need frustration, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior. ResultsASIP participation increased teachers' autonomy support and students' need satisfaction and prosocial behavior, and it decreased teachers' control and students' need frustration, antisocial behavior, and attitude toward cheating. Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that longitudinal increases in prosocial behavior were mostly a function of need satisfaction gains while longitudinally decreases in antisocial behavior and acceptance of cheating were mostly a function of need frustration declines. ConclusionASIP-enabled benefits extend beyond previously-documented student personal functioning gains (e.g., engagement) to include student social functioning gains as well.

Autonomy-supportive behaviors promote autonomous motivation, knowledge structures, motor skills learning and performance in physical education

Previous research provides evidence as to the influence of teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviors on students’ autonomous motivation in physical education (PE). However, few studies have considered the impact of teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviors on enhancing knowledge structures and motor skills learning in PE. The present study investigated whether an autonomy-supportive intervention designed to promote motor skills learning (experimental group), compared with conventional teaching (control group), would increase autonomous motivation, knowledge structures, skill learning, and performance and whether it decrease controlled motivation in students over a semester. Twenty-eight PE students participated in this quasi-experimental study. Badminton skills were assessed in pre and post intervention and retention sessions. Motivational regulations and knowledge structures were measured in pre and post intervention. In a session after the retention, game performance was measured on the transfer test. Overall, the experimental group and the hypothesized process model were supported. The experimental group demonstrated greater mean scores in some skills in post and retention tests. Compared to students in the control group, students in the experimental group reported greater autonomous motivation and game performance in the post-test. Furthermore, knowledge structures in both groups improved. Promoting skill learning in an autonomy-supportive way, compared with conventional teaching, has important practical implications for PE programs. We conclude that the intervention was successful in enhancing students’ autonomous motivation and performance.