Interactive vs. non-interactive electronically delivered motivational materials for physical activity initiation and enhancement among adults with physical disabilities

Graduation date: 2004Participation in physical activity has important health benefits among\ud individuals with disabilities, whereas inactive lifestyles may lead to secondary limiting\ud health conditions. However, few people with disabilities regularly participate in the\ud recommended amount of health-related physical activities. Low rate of participation\ud may be related to low motivation due to interconnected psychosocial factors. The\ud Transtheoretical Model is a contemporary motivational theory incorporating several\ud theoretical constructs that can facilitate physical activity initiation and adherence.\ud There is lack of empirical evidence related to the development and delivery of\ud physical activity motivational programs toward people with disabilities. The current\ud literature identifies the need for theory-driven and appealing physical activity\ud intervention programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare web-based\ud interactive (i.e., group discussions) vs. non-interactive physical activity motivational\ud materials tailored to mainly inactive adults with physical disabilities. This was a true\ud experimental design with two experimental and one control group. The results of the study demonstrated that the intervention program was\ud effective in increasing leisure-type physical activity for the experimental non-interactive\ud group that received only the web-based materials (F(2,72)=3.3, p=.04).\ud Similarly, statistical significance was approached for total physical activity scores (F(2,72)=2.8, p=.07) in the web only (i.e., non-interactive) group (Effect Size=.34)\ud from pre- to post-intervention. On the contrary, the control group decreased their\ud leisure-type physical activity level between pretest and posttest (Effect Size=-.30).\ud There were neither statistically significant interaction nor main effects for processes of\ud change, decisional balance, and self-efficacy. Lastly, the proportion of people in the\ud web only group (59%) who progressed in their stages of change was higher than the\ud proportion who progressed in the control group (27.6%) (X² [1,N= 51] = 5.l3, p=.02).\ud The results of this study partially support the development and delivery of web\ud based physical activity motivational materials for the posited population. Such\ud materials may be applicable to other populations of different disability types, ages,\ud cultural and ethnic backgrounds