41 research outputs found
An mHealth App for Supporting Quitters to Manage Cigarette Cravings With Short Bouts of Physical Activity: A Randomized Pilot Feasibility and Acceptability Study
No full textBackground: While gains in reducing smoking rates in Finland have been made, prevalence rates are still substantial. Relapse
rates among smokers engaged in quit-smoking programs are high. Physical activity has been proposed as one means to help
smokers manage cravings. Software and apps on mobile phone and handheld devices offer an opportunity to communicate
messages on how to use physical activity to manage cravings as part of quit-smoking programs.
Objective: We aimed to test the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and preliminary efficacy of an mHealth mobile phone app,
Physical activity over Smoking (PhoS), to assist smokers in quitting smoking in a randomized controlled trial. The app was
designed to prompt smokers to engage in physical activities to manage their smoking cravings.
Methods: Regular smokers (n=44) attended a group-based behavioral counselling program aimed at promoting physical activity
as an additional aid to quit. After quit day, participants were randomly allocated to an intervention (n=25) or to a comparison
(n=19) group. Participants in the intervention group were provided with the PhoS app and training on how to use it to assist with
relapse prevention. Participants in the comparison condition were provided with generalized relapse prevention training.
Results: Some participants reported that the PhoS app was useful in assisting them to successfully manage their cigarette
cravings, although compliance across the sample was modest and participants reported low levels of usability. Participants
receiving the PhoS app did not report greater abstinence than those who did not receive the app. However, participants receiving
the app were more likely to report greater abstinence if they did not use pharmacological support, while those who did not receive
the app reported greater abstinence when using pharmacological support. Participants receiving the app reported greater levels
of physical activity than those who did not. Results revealed that the app resulted in better retention.
Conclusions: The PhoS app showed some potential to reduce abstinence among participants not using pharmacological therapy
and to increase physical activity. However, problems with usability and lack of effects on abstinence raise questions over the
app’s long-term effectiveness. Future research should prioritize further development of the app to maximize usability and test
effects of the intervention independent of quit-smoking programs.peerReviewe
Effects of achievement goals on perceptions of competence in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons: The mastery goal advantage effect
No full textBackground: Previous prospective studies have documented that mastery-approach goals are adaptive because they facilitate less negative psychological responses to unfavourable social comparisons than performance-approach goals. AIMS: This study aimed to confirm this so-called 'mastery goal advantage' effect experimentally. Methods: A 2 × 3 design was adopted where achievement goals (mastery vs. performance) and normative information (favourable vs. no-normative information vs. unfavourable) were manipulated as between participant factors. Sample: Participants were 201 undergraduates, 57 males and 144 females, ranging in age from 17 to 55 years (Mage = 22.53, SD = 6.51). Results: Regression analyses pointed out that experimentally induced mastery-approach goals facilitated higher levels of competence and happiness with task performance than experimentally induced performance-approach goals in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons. In contrast, although performance-approach goals yielded the highest levels of happiness with task performance in conditions of favourable social comparisons, this positive effect of performance-approach goals did not extend to perceptions of competence. Conclusion: Current findings broaden understanding of the adaptive nature of mastery-approach goals and suggest that it is possible to modulate aversive responses to unfavourable social comparisons by focusing attention on mastery-approach goals
Feasibility of a Responsibility-Based Leadership Training Program for Novice Physical Activity Instructors
No full textMost coaches and instructors would like to teach more than just sport skills to their athletes and children. However, to promote athletes’ or children’s holistic development and teach them to take responsibility and lead, requires the coaches and instructors to first master the skills themselves. Therefore, feasible, high quality leadership training programs where coaches and physical activity instructors are taught to teach and share leadership are needed. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the feasibility of a leadership training program to optimize it and to determine whether to proceed with its evaluation. In the leadership training program, eight Finnish novice physical activity instructors, aged 18 to 22, were taught to promote positive youth development, personal and social responsibility, and shared leadership in a physical activity context. The participants had minimal to no leadership training or experience. The training program consisted of seven meetings totaling 20 h. Helllison’s teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model was the theoretical and practical framework of the training program. Feasibility of the leadership training program was evaluated across four domains of an evidence-based framework: demand, practicality, acceptability, and implementation fidelity. Data of the current complex intervention were collected with application videos, questionnaires, researcher’s log, lesson plans, video recordings, and a semi-structured focus group interview. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data using deductive and inductive content analysis. There was a demand for the leadership training program. The training program was perceived as practical and highly acceptable by the novice instructors and the trainers, and implemented with fidelity, indicating high overall feasibility. No implementation issues were found. Consequently, the current leadership training program has a high probability of efficacy and can be accepted for further evaluation. © Copyright © 2021 Toivonen, Hassandra, Wright, Hagger, Hankonen, Laine and Lintunen
Training programme for novice physical activity instructors using Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model: A programme development and protocol
No full textPrevious research indicates that programmes employing Hellison’s Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model in physical activity have had a positive impact on youth development by increasing participants’ positive values, autonomy, life skills, and prosocial behaviour. Despite encouraging results of the effects of TPSR-based programmes, there remains lack of research on the effective content of these programmes, and their implementation and evaluation. The current protocol article describes the development of a TPSR-based instructor training programme and a plan for an intervention study in which novice instructors learn to understand and apply the TPSR model in practice. The participants of the TPSR-based training intervention study are novice instructors who are matched and randomly allocated to a 20-hour TPSR-based training intervention and a six-hour control instructor training without the TPSR content. The proposed study examines whether the intervention is effective in teaching novice physical activity instructors to understand and apply the TPSR model, whether the instructors’ personal and social responsibility develops, and whether the training intervention is feasible.Full Tex
Examining factors associated with intrinsic motivation in physical education: a qualitative approach
No full textObjectives. To provide further information regarding factors associated with students' intrinsic motivation in physical education using a qualitative approach. Design and Methods. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with secondary physical education students who were selected from a pool of 254 students on the basis of their score on relevant questionnaires. Results. Analyses of interview transcripts revealed that factors associated with intrinsic motivation for participating in physical education were both social-environmental and individual differences. Individual differences in perceived competence, perceived autonomy, physical appearance, and goal orientation influenced students' intrinsic motivation. Social environmental factors included lesson content, the physical education teacher, classmates, and school athletic facilities, as well as physical activity behaviors of the family and family encouragement, participation in out-of-school athletic activities, media, cultural values and social preconceptions. Conclusions. A wide variety of social factors influence students' intrinsic motivation in physical education. These need to be taken into account when designing physical education lessons. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Evaluating the olympic education program: A qualitative approach
No full textThis study was conducted to provide further information regarding factors associated with educational evaluation, using a qualitative approach. Fifty-five interviews were carried out with school principals. The results of the present study supported the notion that the qualitative methods could provide information that quantitative procedures could not. Additionally, the findings also provided useful information for solving problems in OEP implementation and enhanced decision-making by indicating points of the program that should be improved. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd
Feasibility of a Responsibility-Based Leadership Training Program for Novice Physical Activity Instructors
No full textMost coaches and instructors would like to teach more than just sport skills to their athletes and children. However, to promote athletes' or children's holistic development and teach them to take responsibility and lead, requires the coaches and instructors to first master the skills themselves. Therefore, feasible, high quality leadership training programs where coaches and physical activity instructors are taught to teach and share leadership are needed. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the feasibility of a leadership training program to optimize it and to determine whether to proceed with its evaluation. In the leadership training program, eight Finnish novice physical activity instructors, aged 18 to 22, were taught to promote positive youth development, personal and social responsibility, and shared leadership in a physical activity context. The participants had minimal to no leadership training or experience. The training program consisted of seven meetings totaling 20 h. Helllison's teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model was the theoretical and practical framework of the training program. Feasibility of the leadership training program was evaluated across four domains of an evidence-based framework: demand, practicality, acceptability, and implementation fidelity. Data of the current complex intervention were collected with application videos, questionnaires, researcher's log, lesson plans, video recordings, and a semi-structured focus group interview. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data using deductive and inductive content analysis. There was a demand for the leadership training program. The training program was perceived as practical and highly acceptable by the novice instructors and the trainers, and implemented with fidelity, indicating high overall feasibility. No implementation issues were found. Consequently, the current leadership training program has a high probability of efficacy and can be accepted for further evaluation.Peer reviewe
A fair play intervention program in school Olympic education
No full textThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program aimed to develop fair play behaviours in a school Olympic Education program. One hundred and twenty six, 5th-grade students front 4 elementary schools participated in this study, 66 of which were in the experimental group and 60 in the control group. The results revealed significant improvement in the reported fair play behaviours, classroom support and autonomy, orientation toward play and intrinsic motivation of the intervention group. Follow-up assessment revealed that the effects were maintained two months after the end of the program. Overall, it appears that the fair play intervention had immediate and sustained effects on students. The results suggest that programs based on sound theoretical principles call be effective in promoting students' sociomoral development
Process and outcome evaluation of the “No more smoking! It's time for physical activity” program
No full textAbstractPurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the program “No more smoking! It's time for physical activity”, with a mixed methods design, in order to collect information to improve the program for future applications.MethodsForty patients across five anti-smoking clinics in Central Greece completed the program. Counselors' records and participants' questionnaires and interviews were used as data in order to evaluate the programs' process and outcome.ResultsQuantitative measures before and after the program revealed significant differences on smoking behavior, physical activity (PA) behavior, self-efficacy, and smoking habit measures. Qualitative data implied that the promotion of PA as a cessation aid was perceived as positive by the participants and both participants' and counselors' statements were encouraging for the effectiveness of PA promotion during the program as a cessation-aid technique.ConclusionEvaluation of the “No more smoking! It's time for physical activity” program showed encouraging results. People who try to quit smoking can become more physically active through targeted intervention and they regard PA as a significant aid in their efforts to quit smoking
