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The processes of change are the strategies and techniques people use to change their thinking and their behavior; your clients are therefore likely to increase their use of many of the processes of change long before they are meeting national guidelines for a physically active lifestyle. However, if you work at a community center, YMCA, or YWCA implementing a program such as the Active Living Program (Blair, Dunn, Marcus, Carpenter, & Jaret, 2001), you may see changes in your clients’ ...
In my opinion Motivating People to Be Physically Active (second edition) is the best book of 2009 on how to apply theory to practice. The book starts with four chapters that provide a thorough review of physical activity and behavior change theory, with special emphasis on motivational readiness to change. The book includes forms that can be used to track physical activity and counsel clients, and the appendix is full of questionnaires that can be used to measure many of the concepts ...
For this segment of the population, your goal is to help increase awareness about the (a) benefits of physical activity, (b) support for it in the local community, and (c) acceptance of physical activity by other community members. Distribute print materials targeted toward people who are thinking about becoming more physically active or include health and physical activity tips in general publications (USDHHS et al. Set up physical activity hotlines that people can call with questions about...
Knowing your stage of change can help you discover what you need to do to move forward. The questions in Assessing My Stage of Change will help you gauge where you are on the spectrum between precontemplation and maintenance. section on pages 155-156 contains advice for people in the precontemplation stage, including many reasons to become active.
In addition to increasing the amount of time you are active, you can also increase your daily physical activity by cranking up the intensity. Light-intensity activity is any physical activity more strenuous than sleeping and less strenuous than a brisk walk. In the following space, write down two light-intensity activities that you are willing to crank up into moderate-intensity activities simply by picking up the pace.
For the participants in our study, obstacles to being active came in all shapes and sizes. One way to motivate yourself is to remember the important benefits that physical activity can provide. Benefits that our participants often listed included feeling productive, enjoying improved communication with a spouse, and feeling good about their bodies.
Eighteen studies that evaluated individually-adapted behavior change interventions designed to increase physical activity met the inclusion criteria for review by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services (Blair et al. Although not defined as a review of individually-adapted health behavior change interventions to increase physical activity per se, a Cochrane review related to this intervention category was conducted and published (Foster et al. If so, you should use effective ...
