Physical Activity Dynamics During a Digital Messaging Intervention Changed After the Pandemic Declaration.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted physical activity, but little is known about how contextual changes following the pandemic declaration impacted either the dynamics of people's physical activity or their responses to micro-interventions for promoting physical activity. PURPOSE: This paper explored the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dynamics of physical activity responses to digital message interventions. METHODS: Insufficiently-active young adults (18-29 years; N = 22) were recruited from November 2019 to January 2020 and wore a Fitbit smartwatch for 6 months. They received 0-6 messages/day via smartphone app notifications, timed and selected at random from three content libraries (Move More, Sit Less, and Inspirational Quotes). System identification techniques from control systems engineering were used to identify person-specific dynamical models of physical activity in response to messages before and after the pandemic declaration on March 13, 2020. RESULTS: Daily step counts decreased significantly following the pandemic declaration on weekdays (Cohen's d = -1.40) but not on weekends (d = -0.26). The mean overall speed of the response describing physical activity (dominant pole magnitude) did not change significantly on either weekdays (d = -0.18) or weekends (d = -0.21). In contrast, there was limited rank-order consistency in specific features of intervention responses from before to after the pandemic declaration. CONCLUSIONS: Generalizing models of behavioral dynamics across dramatically different environmental contexts (and participants) may lead to flawed decision rules for just-in-time physical activity interventions. Periodic model-based adaptations to person-specific decision rules (i.e., continuous tuning interventions) for digital messages are recommended when contexts change.

Physical inactivity is recognized as one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and many cancers. Most American adults fail to achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Interventions to promote physical activity in young adults are needed to reduce long-term chronic disease risk. The COVID-19 pandemic declaration abruptly changed many individuals' environments and lifestyles. These contextual changes adversely impacted physical activity levels but little is known about how these changes specifically impacted the dynamics of people's physical activity or responses to micro-interventions for promoting physical activity. Using data collected from Fitbit smartwatches before and after the pandemic declaration, we applied tools from control systems engineering to develop person-specific dynamic models of physical activity responses to messaging interventions, and investigated how physical activity dynamics changed from before to after the pandemic declaration. Step counts decreased significantly on weekdays. The average speed of participants' responses to intervention messages did not change significantly, but intervention response dynamics had limited consistency from before to after the pandemic declaration. In short, participants changed how they responded to interventions after the pandemic declaration but the magnitude and patterns of change varied across participants. Person-specific, adaptive interventions can be useful for promoting physical activity when behavioral systems are stimulated to reorganize by external factors.

Examining associations between self-conscious emotions and implicit and reflective processes among adolescent girls and boys

Objective Examine the association between self-conscious emotions and adolescents’ implicit attitudes (i.e., automatic evaluations or “gut reactions”) towards sport. Design In this cross-sectional design, 162 adolescents completed self-report questionnaires and a single category implicit association task. Study protocols transitioned from in-person to online at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures Self-conscious emotions (i.e., fitness-related shame and pride) were assessed using the BSE-FIT (Castonguay et al., 2016), and sport enjoyment (i.e., reflective attitudes) was assessed using four items from Scanlan and colleagues measure of adolescents’ sport experiences (Scanlan et al., 1993). The Single-Category Implicit Association Task using images was used to measure their implicit attitudes towards sport (Karpinski & Steinman, 2006). Results Based on a structural equation model accounting for age and gender, higher levels of fitness pride related to higher sport enjoyment and higher levels of fitness shame related to less favourable implicit attitudes towards sport. Conclusion Overall, results might reflect differences in when self-conscious emotions are most relevant, whereby pride is more relevant when reflecting on experiences in sport, however fitness shame is related to implicit attitudes elicited from the sport context. Interventions that target affective judgments of the self may be useful to incorporate into strategies to reduce sport drop out in adolescents.

Alcohol Use as a Function of Physical Activity and Golfing Motives in a National Sample of United States Golfers.

Alcohol and physical inactivity are risk factors for a variety of cancer types. However, alcohol use often co-occurs with physical activity (PA), which could mitigate the cancer-prevention benefits of PA. Alcohol is integrated into the culture of one of the most popular physical activities for adults in the United States (U.S.), golf. This study examined how alcohol use was associated with total PA, golf-specific PA, and motives for golfing in a national sample of golfers in the U.S. Adult golfers (n = 338; 51% male, 81% White, 46 ± 14.4 years) self-reported alcohol use, golfing behavior and motives, and PA. Most (84%) golfers consumed alcohol, averaging 7.91 servings/week. Golf participation, including days/week, holes/week, and practice hours/week, was not associated with alcohol use. Golfers with stronger social motives were 60% more likely to consume alcohol. Weekly walking (incident risk ratio (IRR) = 7.30), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA; IRR = 5.04), and total PA (IRR = 4.14) were associated with more alcohol servings/week. Golfers' alcohol use may be higher than the general adult population in the U.S. and contributes 775 extra kilocalories/week, a surplus that may offset PA-related energy expenditure and cancer-protective effects. Alcohol use interventions targeting golfers may facilitate weight loss and reduce cancer risk, especially for golfers motivated by social status.

Adult outdoor group sport play during a pandemic: Feasibility, acceptability, and program adherence results from a study of modifications to mitigate COVID-19 risk.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term adherence to an adult outdoor group sport play program designed to maximize enjoyment that was modified to incorporate COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies. We enrolled 17 healthy, but sedentary, central Pennsylvania adults (mean age = 31.6 ± 7.3) without obesity via mail advertisements to participate in four, 60-minute sessions of instructor-led modified sport games (e.g., handball, Ultimate Frisbee, soccer) over a two-week period in October 2020. Durign recrutiment and the study period, there were approximately 1000-2000 new cases of COVID-19 daily in central Pennsylvania . The overall adherence rate to the sessions was 91%, and no participants reported new or existing COVID-19 symptoms or diagnoses during the two-week study period or 10-days following the final session. Despite enforcing mandatory COVID-19 safety measures (e.g., universal masking, social distancing), the participants reported enjoying the program and feeling socially connected with one another, while perceiving the program to be safe. Additionally, all participants expressed a desire to participate again, if the program were offered in the future. These results suggest that an outdoor group sport play program for adults can be feasible, acceptable, and well-adhered to despite enforcing mandatory COVID-19 safety precautions. Physical activity programs similar to the one presented here may provide an easily-adaptable approach to outdoor physical activity during the current and potential future pandemics that have viral transmission characteristics similar to COVID-19.