A Trial of an Affect-Guided Physical Activity Prescription

Physical Activity Clinical Trial

Official title:

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

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02507869
• Other study ID #: 2012-098-SMIJ
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 22, 2015
• Last updated: July 23, 2015
• Start date: April 2013
• Est. completion date: April 2014

Study information

• Verified date: July 2015
• Source: Southern Methodist University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 67
• Est. completion date: April 2014
• Est. primary completion date: April 2014
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

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

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Prevention

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Physical Activity

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Positive affective response
Participants adjust the intensity of their exercise to maintain a pleasant affective response.
• 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).

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Southern Methodist University

References & Publications (6)

Ekkekakis P, Lind E, Vazou S. Affective responses to increasing levels of exercise intensity in normal-weight, overweight, and obese middle-aged women. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010 Jan;18(1):79-85. doi: 10.1038/oby.2009.204. Epub 2009 Jun 25. — View Citation

Ekkekakis P, Lind E. Exercise does not feel the same when you are overweight: the impact of self-selected and imposed intensity on affect and exertion. Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Apr;30(4):652-60. — View Citation

Ekkekakis P, Parfitt G, Petruzzello SJ. The pleasure and displeasure people feel when they exercise at different intensities: decennial update and progress towards a tripartite rationale for exercise intensity prescription. Sports Med. 2011 Aug 1;41(8):641-71. doi: 10.2165/11590680-000000000-00000. Review. — View Citation

Parfitt G, Alrumh A, Rowlands AV. Affect-regulated exercise intensity: does training at an intensity that feels 'good' improve physical health? J Sci Med Sport. 2012 Nov;15(6):548-53. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2012.01.005. Epub 2012 May 31. — View Citation

Williams DM, Dunsiger S, Jennings EG, Marcus BH. Does affective valence during and immediately following a 10-min walk predict concurrent and future physical activity? Ann Behav Med. 2012 Aug;44(1):43-51. doi: 10.1007/s12160-012-9362-9. — View Citation

Williams DM, Dunsiger S, Miranda R Jr, Gwaltney CJ, Emerson JA, Monti PM, Parisi AF. Recommending self-paced exercise among overweight and obese adults: a randomized pilot study. Ann Behav Med. 2015 Apr;49(2):280-5. doi: 10.1007/s12160-014-9642-7. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in physical activity minutes measured by the 7-day PAR		One week	No
Primary	Change in physical activity minutes measured by the 7-day PAR		One month	No