Reliability and Validity of the Commitment to Physical Activity Scale for Adolescents.

PURPOSE: To examine psychometric properties of a Commitment to Physical Activity Scale for Adolescents (CPASA). DESIGN: Two test-retest studies and a prospective study, approved by a university institutional review board, were conducted in midwestern U.S. urban areas. SETTING: The first test-retest study occurred in four community centers, the second test-retest study took place in a community school, and the prospective study occurred in eight middle schools. SUBJECTS: To measure commitment at baseline and 1 week later, 51 girls in the first test-retest study completed an original 26-item scale, and 91 in the second test-retest study completed a revised 11-item scale. In the prospective study, 503 girls completed the 11-item scale. MEASURES: Commitment was measured via the CPASA. After completing the CPASA, girls in the prospective study wore ActiGraph GT3X-plus accelerometers that measured light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity (LMVPA) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). ANALYSIS: Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were estimated. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to cross-validate the factor structure. RESULTS: For the 11-item CPASA, Cronbach α ranged from .81 to .82, and test-retest reliability was .88. Both EFA and CFA indicated a single factor. The scale was significantly correlated with LMVPA (r = .10) and MVPA (r = .11). CONCLUSION: The 11-item CPASA demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity with girls.

Demographic, cognitive, affective, and behavioral variables associated with overweight and obesity in low-active girls.

This study examined personal, cognitive, affective, and behavioral variables related to body mass index (BMI) among 73 6th and 7th grade girls, and differences between categories of healthy weight, overweight, and obese in the variables. BMI was correlated with barriers to physical activity, enjoyment of physical activity, light physical activity, moderate to vigorous physical activity, vigorous physical activity, and sedentary time. As compared to obese girls, those who were non-obese perceived greater enjoyment of physical activity, engaged in more light and vigorous physical activity, and had fewer minutes/hour of sedentary time. Findings can inform interventions.

The effect of a booster intervention to promote hearing protection behavior in operating engineers.

BACKGROUND: Booster interventions may be useful in promoting workers' hearing protection device (HPD) use. Previous research on the effectiveness and the optimal timeframe for boosters is limited and inconsistent. METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 403 workers were assigned to receive an individually tailored booster, a control booster, or no booster. The booster intervention groups were further divided by timeframe. Frequency of HPD use was measured 12 months post-intervention. RESULTS: The booster intervention groups significantly accounted for the variance in HPD use in Year 2. Workers in middle-term booster (67-94 days) group reported a significantly greater increase in HPD use in Year 2 than those in other timeframes, when potential covariates were controlled for. CONCLUSIONS: Booster intervention letters mailed between 67 and 94 days post-initial intervention may promote HPD use among participants. Future research should explore additional factors associated with optimal booster design, including more innovative mobile and internet-based approaches.

Girls on the move program to increase physical activity participation.

BACKGROUND: Because physical inactivity poses serious health risks, interventions are urgently needed to reverse the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of adolescent girls. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of "Girls on the Move," an individually tailored computerized physical activity (PA) program plus nurse counseling intervention, in increasing PA. METHODS: A pretest-posttest control group design was used with 77 racially diverse sedentary girls in Grades 6, 7, and 8 from two middle schools. Each of the instructional grades was randomly assigned to either an intervention or control condition. After completing computerized questionnaires, each girl in the control group received a handout listing the PA recommendations. To encourage PA, each girl in the intervention group received computerized, individually tailored feedback messages based on her responses to the questionnaires, individual counseling from the school's pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP), and telephone calls and mailings from a trained research assistant. At 12 weeks, girls in both groups responded to the questionnaires. RESULTS: No differences in self-reported PA emerged between the intervention and control groups at Weeks 1 (baseline) and 12 (postintervention). Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant interaction between group and time for social support for PA, F(1, 69) = 5.73, p = .019, indicating that the intervention group had significantly greater social support across time than did the control group. From baseline to postintervention, social support increased for the intervention group but decreased for the control group. DISCUSSION: Reasons for the lack of significant differences between the groups on the PA measures were cited. Important information that could inform subsequent studies that test interventions to increase youth PA was acquired from conducting this study. Future efforts to increase PA participation might include this approach for enhancing social support for PA.

Physical activity, self-efficacy, and perceived exertion among adolescents.

The relationship of self-efficacy, a sense of confidence in personal physical activity (PA) skills, to perceived exertion during activity was explored among 168 African American and European American boys and girls between 9 and 17 years of age. Participants walked/ran on a treadmill at a speed equivalent to 60% of their peak VO2 for 20 minutes and provided ratings of exertion every 4 minutes. Pre-activity self-efficacy predicted perceived exertion for boys only. Girls were lower than boys in pre-activity self-efficacy and subsequently reported greater perceived exertion. For both genders, lower perceived exertion during PA resulted in higher post-activity self-efficacy. Uncomfortable perceptions of exertion during initial efforts to increase PA are likely to discourage future activity. Interventions that can lower perceptions of exertion may enhance self-efficacy and promote a sense of competence in PA skills.

Exercise self-efficacy, enjoyment, and feeling states among adolescents.

Knowledge of cognitions and feelings related to physical activity (PA) can assist in counseling adolescents to prevent the decrease in PA that occurs during this developmental period. This study, which involves a 2 (gender) 2 (race) 3 (developmental stage) design, examines relationships among PA self-efficacy (SE), enjoyment, and feeling states (FS) during PA and compares responses among 168 African American and European American boys and girls during early, middle, and late adolescence. More positive FS during a standardized PA episode on a treadmill predicts higher postactivity SE and greater enjoyment of the task. FS worsens as the session progresses, particularly for adolescents who in early puberty, report feeling significantly worse than those in both middle and late puberty at 16 minutes and 20 minutes. Findings suggest that nurses should assist adolescents to reduce negative feelings during activity to augment PA enjoyment, as well as SE following PA.

Effects of booster interventions on factory workers' use of hearing protection.

BACKGROUND: The provision of reinforcements or boosters to interventions is seen as a logical approach to enhancing or maintaining desired behavior. Empirical studies, however, have not confirmed the effectiveness of boosters nor assessed the optimum number of boosters or the timing for their delivery. OBJECTIVES: This randomized controlled trial contrasted the effect of four booster conditions (a). 30 days; (b). 90 days; (c). 30 and at 90 days; and (d). no boosters of the intervention to increase the use of hearing protection devices (HPDs). METHODS: A total of 1325 factory workers completed a computerized questionnaire and were randomly assigned to one of three computer-based (tailored, nontailored predictor-based, or control) multimedia interventions designed to increase the use of hearing protection devices. After the intervention, colorful boosters specific to the type of training received were mailed to workers' homes. Posttest measures of use were administered at the time of their next annual audiogram 6 to 18 months after the intervention. RESULTS Repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant main effect for the booster (after 30 days) in the group that received tailored training (F[3442] = 2.722; p =.04). However, in the assessment of the interaction between time (pretest and posttest) and boosters (four groups), the ANOVA did not find significant differences in hearing protection device use for any of the training groups. To assess for significant differences between groups, post hoc comparisons were conducted at the pretest and posttest for the total sample and for the subsample of workers who reported using hearing protection devices less than 100% of the time needed. Sheffé contrasts by intervention group, gender, ethnicity, and hearing ability found no significant changes in the mean use of hearing protection devices for the booster groups. CONCLUSIONS: Although the provision of boosters represented a considerable commitment of resources, their use was not effective in this study. However, it would be premature to eliminate boosters of interventions. Further study is needed to explore the effects of different booster types for increasing the use of hearing protection devices, and to assess carefully the effects of boosters on other health behaviors in studies with controlled designs.

Physical activity self-definition among adolescents.

Since research involving adults indicates that physical activity (PA) self-definition influences PA participation, understanding PA self-definition and related factors, such as PA frequency and enjoyment, in youth is essential for designing interventions to reverse the decline in PA that occurs from childhood through adolescence. The objective of this study was to explore correlates of PA self-definition and assess differences in PA self-definition among African American and European American boys and girls in early, middle, and late puberty. A 3 (developmental stage) x 2 (gender) design was used. African American and European American boys and girls, ages 9 to 17, participated. A total of 168 adolescents completed demographic data, developmental stage, and current and future PA self-definition questionnaires. Peak VO2 was obtained as a measure of physical fitness. Current PA self-definition was positively correlated with peak VO2 (p < .01) and future PA self-definition (p <.01). Males had higher current (p = .032) and future (p = .021) PA self-definition than females. The finding that boys have stronger current and future PA self-definitions than girls highlights the challenge for health professionals to enact immediate and effective measures to alter girls' perceptions of themselves in terms of PA participation. Since current PA self-definition is also significantly correlated with future PA participation, strategies to assist girls in developing a strong PA self-definition may contribute to increased PA in their adult years.

Research process in the health sciences: a focus on methods.

Research in the health sciences is becoming increasingly challenging as data and methods advance in complexity. This article was written to provide an overview of the research process for complex and intricate projects, with a focus on methods. The insights regarding structuring and managing research projects are intended to guide researchers through all phases of the research process. Our key suggestions include the following: (1) conceptual and methodological complexity must be balanced, (2) skilled project managers and statisticians are needed, and can be rewarded for their contributions to projects in part through authorship, and (3) grants involving multiple investigators present problems related in part to the abstruseness of integrated methods and so require special solutions for effective management. Overall, we conclude that researchers are rewarded in a variety of ways when they remain focused on the original study aims, keep methods simple, utilize skilled staff, and engage in strategic planning.

Effectiveness of a tailored intervention to increase factory workers' use of hearing protection.

BACKGROUND: In the United States it is estimated that more than 30 million workers are exposed to harmful levels of noise on the job. When engineering or administrative controls cannot be used to reduce noise, workers should always use hearing protection devices (HPDs) when exposed to loud noise to prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Previous research has shown that workers do not always use HPDs when required; therefore, it is essential that workers assume personal responsibility for preventing NIHL by increasing their use of HPDs. OBJECTIVES: This study tested the effectiveness of an individually tailored multimedia intervention to increase use of HPDs by factory workers. METHODS: A randomized controlled design was used to compare the effects of a tailored intervention (n= 446) with two other interventions (a nontailored predictor-based intervention (n= 447) and a control intervention (n= 432)) on workers' self-reported use of HPDs 6 to 18 months following the intervention. RESULTS: Only those workers receiving the tailored intervention significantly increased their use of HPDs from pretest to posttest. However, this increase significantly differed from the nontailored group but not from the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Individually-tailored interventions offer promise for changing behavior. In light of the similarity between the results for the tailored intervention and the control intervention groups, further research is needed to understand barriers to HPD use and how to maximize the benefits of individually tailored interventions in this setting.

Barriers to physical activity perceived by adolescent girls.

Girls in the United States are at high risk for inactivity and resultant overweight or obesity. Perceived barriers to physical activity are critical factors for health care professionals to consider when intervening with this population to increase physical activity. This descriptive study identified barriers to physical activity reported by girls in middle school. Participants were recruited from two middle schools in the Midwest. Using a Likert-type scale, a total of 77 ethnically diverse girls, ages 11 to 14, responded to 23 items representing barriers to physical activity participation. Mean scores and percentages were computed for each barrier statement. The top barriers to physical activity that emerged for the girls in this investigation were "I am self-conscious about my looks when I exercise" and "I am not motivated to be active." Strategies that health professionals can use to counsel girls of this age in overcoming barriers to physical activity are presented. This health-related information can enhance anticipatory guidance to girls.