Behavioral and Social

Approaches to
Understanding and
Promoting Physical Activity
Chapter 13
 After completing this chapter, you should be able to discuss the
following:​
• The key behavioral theories and theoretical models used to explain
physical activity behavior
• The definitions of behavioral and social approaches to physical
activity promotion
Objectives • The rationale for promoting physical activity using behavioral and
social approaches
• Evidence-based strategies for behavioral and social approaches to
physical activity promotion
• Examples of each kind of evidence-based strategy
Why Health
and Fitness
Change is
SO Hard?
Barriers to Being Active Quiz

What strategies can you create based off your

barriers to be more active?
 Individually Adapted Health Behavior
Change Programs
•Involves one-on-one discussion and adjustment of
lifestyle choices to build momentum towards a
healthy lifestyle
•Very strong evidence to support effectiveness
• Increases in physical activity
• Increases in physical fitness
• VO2 max
• Caloric expenditure
• Higher likelihood to reach standard physical guidelines
(150 min/week)
Strategies to Adapt Behavior
Change
Substitution
• Stay physically active when you may not even be thinking about being active
• Push back from a desk during work and take several two-minute walks during the say, Take
stairs over elevator
Social Support
• Find a partner to partners to help you stay active
• Join a walk club, go to gym with friend, challenge on fitness watch

Self-Reward
• Provide positive feedback to yourself for being physically active
• Reward yourself once you reach a goal (both short term and long term)

Commitment
• Encourage tangible commitments to yourself for being physically active
• Sign a self-contract, be an accountability partner, set and track goals

Reminders
• Use prompting tools to remind yourself and others about activity
• Put it in your calendar, set workout clothes by door
Motivational Readiness
2 Over-riding concepts are relevant at each stage of motivational readiness

Decisional Balance Should I do this?

weighing the pros and cons

Self-efficacy Can I do this?

confidence or perceived ability to be active
and deal with external threats and
barriers
 Support for Health Behavior
Change
Social support – the degree to which people perceive support from social network to overcome health
challenges. People with shared experiences and goals benefit from support from each other
◦ Two individuals walk together

Perceived support: the perception that one is adequately supported.

◦ Someone who knows he can count on friends to walk with him when he needs company.

Received support: the amount of direct support a person can count on for physical activity. Direct and measurable
◦ E.g., a sports team that must have five members to play. Each member counts on the others to be there so
the team can play.
◦ Husband supported by wife or mother supporting child by enabling sports participation

Connected support: the degree to which a person is socially integrated. Provides implicit social support as a result
Behavioral and social support
of the connections made through one’s social network. Experiences are shared increase physical activity
◦ Clubs participation as part of leisure,
◦ Communities occupation, transportation or
◦ Community events: fun run, workplace, family and friends at-home activities​
Behavior Change
Theories
Behavioral Models/Theories

• Used to explain/predict behavior

in various populations
• Studying how people change can
help us understand and support
each other more effectively
• Can help health professionals to
find the best methods to motivate
their clients to adopt a healthy
lifestyle
 Health Belief Model
Theorizes that one’s beliefs about whether they
are susceptible to disease and their perceptions
of the benefits of trying to avoid it influence
their readiness to act​
Key behavioral Constructs
◦ Perceived Susceptibility-negative consequences of
condition
◦ Perceived Severity- how bad can it be
◦ Perceived Benefits- pros to behavior change
◦ Perceived Barriers-what’s restricting me from this behavior
◦ Cues to Action- motivates individual to change
◦ Self-Efficacy- confidence that individual can make the
change, continue the positive behavior

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI5LDiz8Le0
 Theory of Planned Behavior
Likelihood of being physically active is highly
dependent on the individual’s perceptions and
influences
• Attitude-Depends on their personal beliefs about the
behavior
• Subjective Norms- Beliefs of others
• Behavioral Control- Perceived ease or difficulty of
behavior
• Intention- positive attitude, subjective norm, and
behavior control leads to intention to engage in the
behavior

People who intend to become physically active are

likely to do so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZsxuD3gExE
 Social Cognitive Theory
•Process that occurs through observational
learning and reinforcement
•Observing that a behavior is good/desired
increases the likelihood that we will adopt that
behavior
•If PA is a regular part of one’s environment or is
held in high regard by those close to them, they
are more likely to participate in it
• Children very easy to influence at a young age
• Reason as to why stopping a sedentary lifestyle
can be so difficult (social circle & close
relationships)
Self-Determination Theory

• Self-determination theory
suggests that people are
motivated to grow and
change by three innate
and universal
psychological needs.
• This theory suggests that
people are able to become
self-determined when their
needs for competence,
connection, and
autonomy are fulfilled
 Transtheoretical
Model of Behavior
1. Precontemplation: The person has not even thought
about becoming physically active or may be unaware of the
importance of being physically active.
2. Contemplation: The person is aware of the benefits and may
be thinking about making a change to be physically active a
short time in the future.
3. Preparation: The person has reached the tipping point
and is making small changes in behavior (e.g., taking the
stairs rather than the elevator).
4. Action: The previously sedentary person has become
physically active recently and perhaps is now meeting
physical activity guidelines
5. Maintenance: The person has been consistently active
for at least six months.
Socio-Ecological
Model of Behavior
◦ multiple factors that influence physical activity
◦ The basic principle- although the behavior (physical activity) occurs at
the individual level, it is influenced by factors at multiple levels
◦ Public health approaches for understanding and promoting physical
activity
◦ Addressing the problems occurring at the higher (or more distal to the
individual) levels of the socio-ecological model allows us to reach
entire populations
◦ Interpersonal or individual-level strategies can make a
few people become much more active than they used to be
◦ Environmental or policy strategies can make more people a little
more active than they used to be
◦ Ideally, an intervention should target all levels of the socio-ecological
model, but that is almost never feasible