A Trial of an Affect-Guided Physical Activity Prescription

July 23, 2015 updated by: Austin Baldwin, Southern Methodist University

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of an Affect-Guided Physical Activity

Despite awareness of the benefits of engaging in regular physical activity, at least 50% of adults in the US do not meet recommended guidelines for physical activity. One potential explanation for this lack of regular physical activity is that people often experience exercise as affectively unpleasant. Evidence suggests that the more positively people experience exercise (i.e., the better they feel while exercising), the more likely they are to engage in regular physical activity. This may be especially true for people in poor cardiorespiratory condition. In this randomized trial, investigators compared the effects of an affect-guided exercise prescription (intervention) to a heart rate-guided exercise prescription (control) on change in physical activity minutes among previously underactive adults. Investigators also tested whether the effect of the intervention was moderated by differences in cardiorespiratory fitness.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Regular physical activity has many benefits for overall health and well-being, and current public health guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity to attain these benefits. Despite the many benefits of regular activity, the majority of adults in the US fail to meet recommendations for regular physical activity. One potential explanation for suboptimal levels of physical activity is that exercise is often experienced as affectively unpleasant. Recent work has demonstrated that the more positive people feel during exercise, the more likely they are to engage in regular physical activity. Affective response to exercise is modulated by the intensity of the activity: at a vigorous intensity, affective response is almost uniformly negative and unpleasant, whereas at a moderate intensity, there is more inter-individual variability in affective response. Whether the intensity of the exercise is self-selected or imposed also influences the affective response to exercise, with self-selected intensities being experienced as more pleasant. Current recommendations for engaging in physical activity focus on the type of training intensities most likely to result in a negative affective response. The purpose of this pilot trial was to test the effects of an exercise prescription focused on the maintenance of positive affect during exercise. Investigators randomized participants to one of two exercise prescription conditions: (1) an affect-guided prescription focused on maintaining a positive affective response (intervention), and (2) a heart rate-guided prescription focused on maintaining a moderate intensity (control). Investigators tested the effects of these two exercise prescriptions on changes in subsequent physical activity after one week and one month among a sample of underactive adults. Investigators also tested whether the effect of the intervention was moderated by differences in cardiorespiratory fitness.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

67

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Physically underactive individuals (< 60 minutes of physical activity/week).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, or hypertension.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Affect-Guided Prescription
Intervention: Participants in the affect-guided condition are instructed to exercise while monitoring how they feel, and to adjust the intensity of their exercise to maintain a pleasant affective response.
Behavioral: Positive affective response
Participants adjust the intensity of their exercise to maintain a pleasant affective response.
Active Comparator: Heart Rate-Guided Prescription
Intervention: Participants in the heart rate-guided condition are instructed to exercise while monitoring their heart rate, and to adjust the intensity of the exercise to maintain a heart rate in the moderate range (64-76% of their HRmax).
Behavioral: Moderate-intensity heart rate
Participants adjust the intensity of the exercise to maintain a heart rate in the moderate range (64-76% of their HRmax).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in physical activity minutes measured by the 7-day PAR
Time Frame: One week
One week
Change in physical activity minutes measured by the 7-day PAR
Time Frame: One month
One month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Southern Methodist University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Austin Baldwin, Ph.D., Southern Methodist University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 22, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 23, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

July 24, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 24, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 23, 2015

Last Verified

July 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2012-098-SMIJ

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Physical Activity

Clinical Trials on Positive affective response

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Argentina

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe