Retention Strategies For Incentive-free Exercise Interventions: Importance Of Enrollment Timing

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Department

Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences Department

Conference Title

American College of Sports Medicine - Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise conference

Organization

American College of Sports Medicine

Location

San Francisco, CA

Date of Presentation

5-28-2020

Journal Publication

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

ISSN

0195-9131

DOI

10.1249/01.mss.0000678380.42362.be

Volume

52

Issue

7S

First Page

416

Abstract

Nearly half of all US adults have a chronic disease diagnosis; these individuals are more likely to be sedentary than age-matched controls. When exercise programs incentivize their participation, attrition may be reduced for the duration of the trial, but the results lack applicability outside of the clinic. Thus, there remains a need to identify cost-free predictors of exercise adherence among sufferers of chronic diseases. PURPOSE: To determine the effect of enrollment timing on retention in an incentive-free, community exercise program. METHODS: 224 previously inactive patients with chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, pulmonary and cardiovascular disease) were enrolled in an intervention involving 10 weeks of aerobic, resistance, and flexibility training. Independent-samples t-tests and chi-squared tests compared the profiles of patients who did and did not complete the trial. Logistic regression tested the effect of enrollment timing on program completion holding constant potential confounders. RESULTS: Across 62 continuous months of admission, 43.3% of patients completed the trial. Retention differed throughout the year with the highest rate occurring in January and February; 55.8% of participants enrolled in those months were retained compared to 39.5% during later months (p=0.038). Patients exhibited no differences in health history, cardiometabolic risk factors, anthropometric measurements, functional assessments, or quality of life scores between months of enrollment. Holding constant sex, age, and diagnosis, initiating training during the first 2 months of the year predicted a 2.1-fold increase in program completion (p=0.023; 95% CI of OR: 1.107-4.053). CONCLUSIONS: Incentive-free exercise interventions for patients with chronic diseases have high attrition. Fewer than half of our patients were retained for 10 weeks. However, those who enrolled at the start of the year were more likely to complete the program, indicating possible value seasonal recruitment.

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