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

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Department

Psychology

Conference Title

Annual Meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis

Organization

Association for Behavior Analysis

Location

Chicago, IL

Conference Dates

May 23-27, 2008

Date of Presentation

5-26-2008

Abstract

Excess body weight, especially obesity, is a problem of increasing social significance. Because physical activity can both decrease 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 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 at least some adults.

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