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While physical activity in individuals tends to decline steadily with age, there are certain periods where this decline occurs more rapidly, such as during early adulthood. Interventions aimed at attenuating the declines in physical activity during this transition period appear warranted.
The purpose of the study was to test the feasibility and efficacy of a theoretically informed, website-delivered physical activity intervention aimed at students entering university.
Using a quasi-experimental design, 65 participants (44 females; mean age 18.51, SD 0.91) were assigned to either an intervention (receiving website access plus weekly prompts) or comparison condition (receiving unprompted website access only), completing questionnaires at baseline and follow-up 8 weeks later. The intervention website, “Active Transition”, was specifically designed to target students’ physical activity cognitions and self-regulatory skills.
Intervention usage was low, with only 47% (18/38) of participants assigned to the intervention condition logging into the website 2 or more times. Among the broader student sample, there were significant declines in students’ physical activity behaviors (
Poor intervention usage suggests that future efforts need to incorporate innovative strategies to increase intervention uptake and better engage the student population. The findings, however, suggest that a website-delivered intervention aimed at this critical life stage may have positive impact on students’ physical activity cognitions. Future studies with more rigorous sampling designs are required.
Despite many known health benefits of physical activity, the majority of the Western world does not accrue recommended amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [
Few attempts, however, have been made to address population-specific perturbations in social (eg, peer influence) and environmental (eg, moving away from home) conditions. To the best of our knowledge, only one intervention study has explicitly targeted students’ transition into college and university. Bray and colleagues [
The current study was a quasi-experimental trial using stratified cluster randomization to recruit participants. A total of 4 floors in residence were asked to take part in this pilot study. There were 2 campus residence buildings that participated, each having 1 floor randomly (by toss of a coin) assigned to the intervention condition, and 1 floor selected to the comparison condition. Early in the fall semester, 198 eligible students living on the selected floors were invited to participate. Written consent was obtained from 146 potential participants. These students were sent a link to the baseline questionnaire, which included measures of demographic characteristics, psychosocial variables of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intentions, and physical activity behaviors. Baseline data was obtained from 91 (59 female) students, with most students in their first year of study. Following the pilot 6-week intervention (described in detail below), participants that completed the baseline questionnaire were sent a link to a follow-up questionnaire with the same measures of physical activity cognitions and behavior. Further attrition resulted in a final sample of 65 students (44 female; mean age 18.51, SD 0.92) completing both baseline and follow-up questionnaires. The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Toronto.
For pragmatic reasons, and given the pilot nature of the study, a true control group was not included. A minimal-contact condition or comparison condition was used instead, where students were provided access to, but were not prompted to use, the intervention website. Given that the effectiveness of Internet-based interventions are greatly enhanced with the use of additional methods of participant interactions such as email messages [
Hope you’re having a great week… Did you know? Being physically active can help you obtain better grades. Physical activity can also give you more energy, allow you to concentrate better, and get you a better night’s rest! Find out more about how physical activity can help you with your studies and more.
An external link accompanied the email message that linked participants to the website with more details about the student-specific benefits of being physically active.
Hosted within a university portal (Blackboard), Active Transition was a password-controlled website developed to be an informational forum specifically targeting psychosocial mediating variables based on Ajzen’s [
The first 2 weeks of the intervention targeted students’ motivation (ie, attitudes, perceptions of control), including student-specific benefits of being physically active (eg, improving concentration, helping with social life), and coping strategies to deal with salient barriers that students typically face during their transition into university. In an attempt to bridge the gap between students’ intentions and subsequent behaviors [
Screenshot of the intervention topic on action planning.
Screenshot of running map as example of intervention resources.
MVPA was measured using the 2003 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS; CDC, 2003 [
Social cognitive variables comprised of TPB measures that were developed and used in a previous study [
Rated on a 7-point Likert scale, 6 items were used to measure attitudes. Two items captured the instrumental component (ie, being physically active is harmful/beneficial and useless/useful), 3 represented the experiential component (ie, enjoyable/unenjoyable, pleasant/unpleasant, and fun/boring), and a good-bad scale.
A single item was used to reflect subjective norms, asking: important people to me think I should be physically active. Participants were required to rate each item on a 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree).
To measure PBC, 6 items were used. Three questions assessed controllability and 3 questions assessed self-efficacy. For example, questions pertaining to controllability included, “how much control do you have to be physically active?” (1=extreme lack of control, 7=extreme control), and questions assessing self-efficacy included, “how confident are you that you can be physically active?” (1=extremely unconfident, 7=extremely confident).
Three items were used to measure participants’ intentions to be physically active (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree), asking, “I intend, I will try, and it is my desire to be physically active”.
To examine the feasibility of the website-delivered intervention, study compliance was first examined. Among a total of 198 eligible participants living in the selected residences, 65 of the students completed both baseline and follow-up questionnaires. Initially, 74% (139/198) of all the eligible students had provided written consent, expressing interest in the physical activity intervention and participating in the study. Baseline data, however, was obtained from only 91 (59 females) of those students, representing a 62% response rate; and of the 91 participants that completed the baseline questionnaire, 65 completed the follow-up questionnaire (44 females), representing a 71% (65/91) retention rate. One-way ANOVAs revealed no significant differences between adherers and dropouts for baseline physical activity levels (
To determine the level of engagement that participants had with the intervention, usage data (the number of times participants logged into the intervention website) was also examined. Importantly, it uncovered that 41% of the participants assigned to the comparison condition were actually users of the intervention (11/27, defined as logging into the website 2 or more times), and 53% in the intervention condition were non-users (20/38, defined as logging in once or not at all). More broadly, usage results indicated that compliance to the intervention was low, with only 6% of participants (4/65) entering the website on an average of one time per week (ie, 6 or more occasions), and only 45% of participants (29/65) logging onto the intervention website on more than 2 occasions. Similarly there were only 5 participants that used the discussion board during the intervention period, and only 1 student had contacted the physical activity expert. Given that this was a pilot study that resulted in unexpected usage within both study conditions, subsequent comparisons in physical activity cognitions and behaviors are made between intervention users (29/65) and intervention non-users (36/65).
Detailed breakdown of participant recruitment.
The descriptive statistics showing mean scores (SD) for the users and non-users at baseline and follow-up are presented in
A significant interaction effect was observed between usage and time on perceived behavioral control (
Descriptive statistics of physical activity behaviors and cognitions by study condition.
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Study conditions | ||
Variables | Full sample |
Intervention usersa
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Non-usersb
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MVPA | 595.00 (424.41) | 594.47 (443.49) | 595.74 (404.34) |
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Attitude | 5.52 (0.93) | 5.52 (0.84) | 5.52 (1.01) |
|
Subjective norm | 5.25 (1.59) | 5.24 (1.38) | 5.25 (1.52) |
|
PBC | 5.44 (0.96) | 5.46 (0.86) | 5.43 (1.04) |
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Intentions | 6.01 (0.96) | 5.99 (0.86) | 6.03 (1.04) |
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MVPA | 366.96 (341.35) | 393.47 (352.18) | 329.63 (328.37) |
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Attitude | 4.39 (0.86) | 4.63 (0.69) | 4.18 (0.94) |
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Subjective norm | 5.38 (1.68) | 5.21 (1.38) | 5.25 (1.76) |
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PBC | 4.90 (1.10) | 5.21 (0.71) | 4.63 (1.30) |
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Intentions | 5.79 (1.28) | 5.94 (0.77) | 5.66 (1.59) |
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Barriers self-efficacy | 5.49 (2.52) | 5.61 (2.65) | 5.32 (2.38) |
aIntervention users were participants in the intervention condition that logged in 2 or more times
bNon-users were participants in the comparison condition that logged in 1 or less times.
Overall, the results of this pilot study were largely mixed. Positive results found 75% (139/198) of the students living in the selected residences had initially expressed interest in the study (ie, being a part of a physical activity intervention), and that implementation of the website-delivered physical activity intervention on campus is feasible and of interest to students. Participant engagement, however, was highly problematic, as response, retention, and compliance rates were all low. In particular, it was alarming that only 45% (14/38) of the participants in the intervention condition were considered users of the intervention, despite a liberal categorization of usage (ie, considered users if logged in 2 or more times over 6 weeks). At minimum, participants should have been accessing the intervention on a weekly basis. The low usage appears consistent with the notion that students may be generally ambivalent about their physical activity levels [
Adherence to intervention protocols is essential for physical activity interventions to be successful [
Consistent with the research literature [
Findings from this pilot also uncovered substantial decreases in students’ attitudes, perception of control, and physical activity intentions over the course of the first semester. Given that most participants were first-year students, decreases in physical activity cognitions may be a direct reflection of the adaptations required for students entering a new environment, consisting of more barriers to physical activity compared to at high school [
There are several important limitations to acknowledge. First, a self-report measure was used to assess physical activity, and such measures are susceptible to recall errors and social desirability bias. Second, the study was limited by a small sample size. Given that the purpose of the study was to pilot the feasibility and efficacy of a newly developed intervention, power calculations were not conducted a priori. However, a post-hoc power calculation was conducted, confirming that we were indeed underpowered (1-ßerr prob=0.69). To be sufficiently powered, the sample size would require 43 participants in each group. Third, the study design excluded a true control group, resulting in unanticipated usage for some participants initially assigned to the comparison condition. Lastly, it should be acknowledged that the study design had a relatively short follow-up period. Without a subsequent follow-up, it is unknown whether the declines in physical activity cognitions are sustained throughout the academic year.
Notwithstanding the notable limitations, this was the first theory-based website-delivered physical activity intervention aimed at students entering university. Although the institutional portal provided a platform for Active Transition that was potentially advantageous in terms of student access (eg, approximately 70,000 students have access to it at this institution), and its high potential for adoption and diffusion by other colleges or universities, there were major issues with low usage of the intervention. Future work must better target student engagement. Modifications to future interventions should utilize and incorporate other technological and interactive tools that motivate students to continually engage with the intervention. Physical activity decline continues to be problematic during students’ transition into early adulthood, and research must continue to develop innovative strategies for encouraging students to maintain a physically active lifestyle that can be sustained through university and beyond.
Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
short message service
theory of planned behavior
The lead author of the research project was supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; award number 756-2010-0673.
None declared.