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The purpose of this study was to employ the theoretical domains framework (TDF) to identify behaviour change factors related to leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in spinal cord injury (SCI) ambulators. A cross-sectional design was employed. Among 43 SCI ambulators, the TDF behaviour change factors were assessed, along with the duration, types, and intensities of LTPA performed over the previous week. The TDF behaviour change factors identified as barriers to LTPA included: knowledge, beliefs about capabilities, coping planning, and goal conflict. Approximately 71.81 mins/day (SD = 75.41) was spent doing LTPA. Participants reported aerobic and resistance training activities, along with several other types of LTPA (e.g., rock climbing). Coping planning, action planning, goal conflict, and skills explained significant variance in time spent on LTPA (R2adjusted = 0.259, p < 0.01), but only action planning uniquely predicted LTPA. Greater use of coping and action planning, lower levels of goal conflict and stronger skills were associated with greater participation in LTPA. These factors will be targeted for a future LTPA-enhancing intervention for SCI ambulators, informed by behaviour change theory. SCI ambulators participate in a surprisingly wide range of LTPA. Rehabilitation specialists can use this list to suggest activities for patients with SCI who ambulate. Barriers to leisure-time physical activity for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) who ambulate include lack of knowledge, weak beliefs about capabilities, lack of coping planning, and high goal conflict. Physical activity interventions for individuals with SCI who ambulate should include action and coping planning, goal conflict, and skills. Physical activity interventions should be created systematically using behaviour change theory and involvement of stakeholders throughout the development process. Practitioners can promote skills training in adapted activities like gardening, cycling, and rock-climbing for ambulators with SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To identify psychosocial factors which explain lower levels of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) who are ambulatory relative to those who use manual wheelchairs.Method: For the quantitative study component, 347 adults with SCI (78% male;Mage = 47.7) completed baseline measures of LTPA attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intentions. Six months later, LTPA was assessed. The qualitative component involved semi-structured interviews with six ambulant adults with SCI (five male,Mage = 52.8) addressing LTPA experiences with an emphasis on barriers and facilitators.Results: Ambulatory individuals had poorer attitudes towards LTPA than chair users (p = 0.004). Their attitudes had significant indirect effects on LTPA, through intentions. Perceived behavioural control was a significant negative predictor of LTPA. Qualitative analysis revealed three themes: an underestimated disability, low wheelchair skill self-efficacy and experiencing chronic pain.Conclusions: Poorer attitudes towards LTPA may partially explain why ambulatory individuals are less active. The qualitative and quantitative data suggest ambulators are an often-overlooked subgroup in need of targeted resources to enhance their attitudes, wheelchair skill self-efficacy and awareness of LTPA opportunities.Implications for RehabilitationRehabilitation practitioners must be sensitive to the unique needs of spinal cord injured individuals who are ambulatory, and tailor physical activity promotional strategies to suit the needs of this distinct group.Lack of wheelchair skills is a participation barrier for ambulators; ambulators should be introduced to activities that do not require wheelchair use, such as swimming, hand-cycling and adapted forms of circuit training.Strategies that encourage wheelchair skill development in non-wheelchair using ambulators, may increase physical activity opportunities for this segment of the spinal injured population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Women who exercise in front of a mirror do not experience the psychological benefits that are typically associated with exercise (Martin Ginis et al., 2003). According to objective self-awareness theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972), gazing into a mirror enhances self-awareness. Women with a negative sense of self as an exerciser (i.e., sedentary women) who exercise in a mirrored environment may experience heightened self-awareness, which may elicit a negative affective response. Using an interference paradigm, this experiment examined self-awareness as a potential mechanism underlying the detrimental effects of mirrored environments on sedentary women's (n = 87; M age = 20.2) psychological response to exercise. Participants performed 20 min of moderate intensity exercise either in front of a mirrored or an unmirrored wall with or without a distracter (a counting task). Participants completed the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (Gauvin & Rejeski, 1993) pre- and 15 min post-exercise. Self-awareness was assessed immediately pre- and post-exercise with the Private Self-Consciousness Scale (Fenigstein et al., 1975). Multilevel linear models revealed a trend for women in the mirrored condition without distraction to be more self-aware post-exercise than women in the unmirrored (p = .06) and mirrored conditions (p = .27) with distraction. Also, women in the mirrored condition without distraction tended to feel more exhausted post-exercise than women in the other conditions (ps < .27). Participants who were distracted scored the same or worse for positive engagement, revitalization, and tranquility than women who exercised in front of the mirror without distractions. An evaluation of the distracter task suggested that the monotony of the task may have affected these feeling states negatively. Nonetheless, results from this preliminary experiment provide some support for objective self-awareness theory, suggesting that exercising in mirrored environments may heighten self-awareness, which may increase negative affect. Further research using alternate distracter tasks is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) has proven to be a useful framework for predicting physical activity (PA) intentions and behavior (Haggar, Chatzisarantis, & Biddle, 2002). However, meta-analyses (Armitage & Connor, 2001) have reported that even though the TPB predicts intentions reasonably well, it has been relatively less successful in the prediction of subsequent behavior. Thus, it seems that a disparity exists between an individual's formation of an intention and the translation of those plans into behavior (Conner & Norman, 2005). Research has shown that the use of an entreaty statement requesting participants to reflect on potential barriers to their behavior can reduce the discrepancy between individuals' reported intentions and subsequent behavior (Ajzen, Brown, & Carvajal, 2004). The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of including an entreaty statement on the TPB's ability to predict moderate intensity PA. Undergraduate students (N = 107) completed an initial assessment of intentions (PRE-INT), attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control for participating in moderate PA for at least 30 min on most days of the week. After considering an entreaty statement, participants' intentions were reassessed (POST-INT). Self-reported PA was measured 1 week later. Results showed that POST-INT scores were lower than PRE-INT scores (p = .002), and hierarchical regression analysis revealed that POST-INT (R² adj. = .50) explained more variance in self-reported PA than PRE-INT (R² adj. = .46). The participants' pre-entreaty intention scores likely represented ideal plans they had regarding engaging in moderate PA over the following week. The entreaty statement possibly compelled respondents to provide a more realistic prediction of how much PA they would perform which, in turn, corresponded better with their actual behavior. This study provides evidence to support the use of entreaty statements in reducing the discrepancy between intentions and behavior and implies its utility as a tool for predicting physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]