The Motivational Effect of Goals on Physical Activity.

Author: Gary Birnie Supervisor: Dr Simon McCabe

Definitions

Performance goals: Frames the goal instructions so that an individual’s focus is on a specific task outcome

Learning goals: A desired number of strategies, processes, or procedures to be developed in order to master a task

Background

Scotland is amongst the lowest of any OECD country for physical activity (PA) levels (Observatory for Sport in Scotland, 2021).

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Only 66% of adults in Scotland meet the recommended activity guidelines of at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week (Scottish Public Health Observatory, 2022).

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Physical inactivity results in 2,500 deaths in Scotland each year.

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In addition, physical inactivity costs the economy around £91 million per year (Public Health Scotland, 2022)

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Aims

Compare the motivational effect of performance and learning goals on physical activity via digital messaging.

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Use Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand and predict the participant's attitude towards physical activity.

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Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: Goal-setting interventions will increase participants' physical activity levels when compared to those who do not receive goal messages

Hypothesis 2: Participants’ receiving PA learning goals will increase their physical activity levels more than those receiving PA performance goals.

Sample

13 participants aged between 18 and 65

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Exercise less than three times per week

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Own a mobile phone with WhatsApp installed

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Method

A three-armed randomised controlled trial (RCT) was conducted where participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (1:1:1): Learning goal message, performance goal message and no goal message (control). A two week baseline observation of physical activity was conducted followed by three weeks of goal messaging sent via WhatsApp. Participants received either PA performance goals, PA learning goals or no goals (control) twice a week. On a Monday and Friday participants were required to self-report their physical activity levels and intensity for each day of the week.

Results and Discussion

Primary Research Objective: Physical Activity Levels

Line graph comparing PA Intensity across weeks for control (gray dashed line), learning (blue solid line), and performance (red solid line) groups, with data plotted over a five-week study period.

Participants doing physical activity does not increase when assigned to a treatment group

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PA higher in participants who received learning goals over performance goals

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Control group engaged in more physical activity than both treatment groups.

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Exploratory Data Analysis: Physical Activity Intensity

Line graph illustrating physical activity over five weeks, comparing control, learning, and performance groups. The control group shows a consistent decline after week 3, while the learning and performance groups fluctuate more.

Participants who received performance goal tasks did have a higher level of PA intensity than the learning and control groups.

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PA intensity levels were lowest for participants assigned to the learning goal group.

Conclusion

The effect of both types of goal messaging on PA levels is inconclusive, however the average effect size of learning goals was greater than performance goals.

Attitude had a more significant impact on PA levels than intention.

There is some evidence from this study to support learning goals as an avenue to increasing physical activity.

Observatory for Sport in Scotland (2021) 'Annual Deaths Due To Physical Inactivity Still Outstrip Covid'. Available at: https://oss.scot/annual-deaths-due-to-physical-inactivity-still-outstrip-covid/ (Accessed: 15 Feb 2022).

Public Health Scotland (2022) 'Physical activity overview'. Available at: http://www.healthscotland.scot/health-topics/physical-activity/physical-activity-overview (Accessed: 15 Feb 2022).

Scottish Public Health Observatory (2022) 'Physical activity: key points'. Available at: https://www.scotpho.org.uk/behaviour/physical-activity/key-points/ (Accessed: 15 Feb 2022).

References