EVALUATION OF MOTIVATIONALLY TAILORED VS. STANDARD SELF-HELP PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY INTERVENTIONS AT THE WORKPLACE

Purpose. This study compares the efficacy of a self-help intervention tailored to the individual's stage of motivational readiness for exerc ise adoption with a standard self-help exercise promotion intervention . Design. Interventions were delivered at baseline and 1 month; assess ments were collected at baseline and 3 months. Setting, Eleven worksit es participating in the Working Healthy Research Trial.Subjects. Parti cipants (n = 1559) were a subsample of employees at participating work sites, individually randomized to one of two treatment conditions. Int ervention. Printed self-help exercise promotion materials either (1) m atched to the individual's stage of motivational readiness for exercis e adoption (motivationally tailored), or (2) standard materials (stand ard). Measures. Measures of stage stage of motivational readiness for exercise and 7-Day Physical Activity Recall. Results. Among interventi on completers (n = 903), chi-square analyses showed that, compared to the standard intervention, those receiving the motivationally tailored intervention were significantly more likely to show increases (37% vs . 27%) and less likely to show either no change (52% vs. 58%) or regre ssion (11% vs. 15%) in stage of motivational readiness. Multivariate a nalyses of variance showed that changes in stage of motivational readi ness were significantly associated with changes it self-reported time spent in exercise. Conclusions. This is the first prospective, randomi zed, controlled trial demonstrating the efficacy of a brief motivation ally tailored intervention compared to a standard self-help interventi on for exercise adoption. These findings appear to support treatment a pproaches that tailor interventions to the individual's stage of motiv ational readiness for exercise adoption.