Increasing physical activity through self-monitoring, goal setting, and feedback

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Behavioral Interventions

Department

Psychology

ISSN

1072-0847

Volume

23

Issue

4

DOI

10.1002/bin.267

First Page

227

Last Page

236

Publication Date

November 2008

Abstract

Excess body weight, especially obesity, is a problem of increasing social significance, and weight gain is often correlated with age. Because physical activity can both decrease current body weight and prevent weight gain, it is an especially suitable target for behavioral intervention. A package intervention consisting of self-monitoring, goal setting, and feedback was used to increase the physical activity of healthy adults. A combined multiple-baseline and reversal design was arranged to evaluate the effects of the intervention on the number of steps taken each day by participants, as recorded by a pedometer. The intervention increased the number of steps taken across participants, but there were no changes in participant body weight during the intervention. The results suggest that a relatively simple and low-cost intervention can be used to increase the physical activity of some adults.

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