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Background: Physical activity (PA) interventions in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) have been limited by a shortage of (1) evidence for sufficient increases in unsupervised PA to improve aerobic fitness and (2) stakeholder involvement in intervention design. Objectives: This study examined the effects of a theory-based PA intervention, developed in collaboration with nearly 300 stakeholders, on PA levels, aerobic fitness, and psychosocial predictors of PA among individuals with SCI. Methods: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with 28 men and women with chronic SCI (age 45.0 ± 11.5 years, years post-injury 16.4 ± 12.4). Participants randomized to the intervention group (n = 14) received an introductory personal training session followed by eight weekly 15-min PA behavioral coaching sessions per week. PA was assessed using self-report and accelerometers. Aerobic fitness and psychosocial predictors of exercise were evaluated using an incremental exercise test and survey methods, respectively. Results: At post-intervention, controlling for baseline, the intervention group showed fivefold greater self-reported moderate to vigorous physical activity [mean difference 247.9 min/day; 95% confidence interval (CI) 92.8–403.1; p = 0.026, d = 1.04], 17% greater accelerometer-measured PA (mean difference 3.9 × 105 vector magnitude counts; 95% CI 1.1 × 104–7.7 × 105; p = 0.014, d = 0.31), and 19% higher peak oxygen uptake (VO2Peak; mean difference 0.23 L/min; 95% CI 0.12–0.33; p < 0.001, d = 0.54) compared with the control group. Mean values of psychosocial predictors of PA were also significantly improved in the intervention group compared with controls. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this co-created behavioral intervention produced the largest effect size to date for change in self-reported PA in an RCT involving people with physical disability. This is also the first RCT in people with SCI to demonstrate that a behavioral intervention can sufficiently increase unsupervised PA to improve aerobic fitness. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03111030, 12 April 2017, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03111030?term=NCT03111030&rank=1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based organizations (CBOs) and support personnel that serve marginalized members of society have the potential to be important partners in knowledge mobilization (KM). A CBO in partnership with researchers developed an event-based KM initiative to disseminate evidence-based physical activity guidelines for people with spinal cord injury. Purpose. The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate a) how a CBO can implement a KM initiative and b) the effectiveness of the initiative for disseminating the guidelines to support personnel. Method. The KM initiative consisted of 12 events about the new guidelines held within the CBO’s regional areas. Evaluation of the events was guided by the RE-AIM (reach, efficacy or effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework. Results. Adoption of the events was high, with 88% of regions hosting an event. Overall fidelity to the event protocol was high among researchers (100.00% ± .00), peers (65% ± 33.74), and staff (70.00% ± 34.96). The events reached 140 support personnel who attended the events. Significant increases in support personnel’s self-efficacy and intentions to promote physical activity to people with spinal cord injury were seen at Time 2 but not maintained at Time 3. Conclusions. Event-based KM initiatives may be an effective strategy for CBOs to disseminate information to support personnel and ensure that KM initiatives are supported by staff and delivered as intended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: This article is the first in a three-part series focused on designing theory-based interventions to increase leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). The purpose of this first study was to compare social cognitions for LTPA between people classified as LTPA actors, intenders, and nonintenders, as per Schwarzer's Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model. Method: Participants were 238 men and women living with a SCI (M age = 44.14, SD = 12.74; 44.5% paraplegic) who were subsequently classified as LTPA actors (n = 105), intenders (n = 73), or nonintenders (n = 60). Participants completed a questionnaire that assessed the following HAPA constructs: LTPA outcome expectancies, self-efficacy, intentions, planning, and action control. Results: A MANCOVA revealed significant between-groups differences for all variables (ps < .001). For all of the measures, actors scored significantly higher than intenders who, in turn, scored significantly higher than nonintenders. Conclusion/Implications: It is both theoretically and practically important to distinguish between LTPA nonintenders, intenders, and actors when developing LTPA-enhancing interventions for people with SCI. These distinctions inform the design and testing of the interventions reported in the two accompanying articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theorists have highlighted the important conceptual distinction between claimed and behavioral self-handicaps (e.g., Leary & Shepperd, 1986), but effort has not been directed toward determining whether the two forms of self-handicapping have different determinants and consequences. Kuczka and Treasure (2005) found that the use of claimed self-handicaps prior to a tournament was positively correlated with perceptions of the team environment as being ego-oriented, and negatively correlated with perceptions of the team environment as being task-oriented. However, we are not aware of any studies that have manipulated motivational climate and directly compared the use of self-handicaps across climates. Thus, the purpose of the present experiment was to examine whether the use of claimed and behavioral self-handicaps and their correlates differed across experimentally manipulated motivational climates. Fifty-six competitive players, 25 men (M age = 20.7 years, SD = 2.6) and 31 women (M age = 20.8; SD = 3.9), participated in the study. A repeated measures design was utilized, such that all participants completed the experimental task (i.e., a test of basketball skill) in both mastery and performance climate. Questionnaire measures of anxiety direction and claimed self-handicapping were administered pretest. Behavioral self-handicapping was operationalized as the number of preparatory shots taken during a warm-up. ANOVA showed no differences in claimed self-handicapping across motivational climates (p > .05). However, greater behavioral self-handicapping occurred in the performance than the mastery climate, F(1, 54) = 46.21, p < .001. Claimed, but not behavioral was predicted by cognitive (r = -.39) and somatic (r = -.50) anxiety direction. Contrary to expectation, neither type of self-handicap was related to performance on the test in either climate (p > .05). These findings reinforce the conceptual distinction between claimed and behavioral self-handicaps and suggest that individual and environmental factors may differentially influence each type of handicap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]