Athletic Insight - Featured Book: Volume 5, Issue 1

Motivating People to Be Physically Active is a comprehensive reference describing proven methods for helping people change from inactive to active living. The behavior change methods are useful not only for healthy adults but also for individuals with chronic physical and psychological conditions. The renowned authors describe intervention programs for individuals and groups and in workplace and community settings.

In Motivating People to Be Physically Active you will learn how to:

improve motivation by understanding the key psychological principles of behavior change.
assess your clients’ physical activity patterns, readiness, motivations, and barriers
use a 5-stage model to measure motivational readiness for physical activity
apply stage-specific strategies for individual, group, workplace, and community interventions

In addition to exercises and various reproducible log pages and worksheets, this book has eight sample reproducible questionnaires for evaluating the effectiveness of programs. This is an essential resource for health professionals who want to improve their effectiveness as they plan, develop, implement, and evaluate physical activity programs.

Part I - Theoretical Background and Tools for Measuring Motivational Readiness

      Chapter 1 Description of Physical Activity Interventions
      Chapter 2 The Stages of Motivational Readiness for Change Model
      Chapter 3 Integrating Other Psychological Models and Theories
      Chapter 4 Learning About Physical Activity Mediators
      Chapter 5 Evaluating and Measuring Physical Activity Mediators
      Chapter 6 Successful Physical Activity Interventions Using the Stages Model

Part II - Applications

      Chapter 7 Assessing Physical Activity Patterns and Physical Fitness
      Chapter 8 Using the Stages Model in Individual Counseling
      Chapter 9 Using the Stages Model in Group Counseling Programs
      Chapter 10 Using the Stages Model in Work-Site Programs
      Chapter 11 Using the Stages Model in Community Programs

The target audiences of this book are health and fitness professionals, health promotion professionals, exercise physiologists, health care professionals, physical educators, and physical activity researchers.

About the Authors

Bess H. Marcus, PhD, is a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Brown University Medical School. She is the director of physical activity research at the Brown University Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at the Miriam Hospital. Dr. Marcus, a clinical psychologist, has spent the past 18 years conducting research on physical activity behavior, and she has published more than 100 papers and book chapters on this topic.

She has helped create new recommendations regarding the quantity and intensity of physical activity necessary for health benefits. She also contributed to the 1996 Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health. She served as an advisor on the curriculum development for Project Active and PRIME and is a coauthor of Active Living Every Day. Dr. Marcus is recognized internationally for her outstanding research in helping people to become more physically active and has spoken on this topic worldwide.

LeighAnn Forsyth, PhD, is a psychology professor at Cleveland State University, where she conducts research on physical activity adoption. She has a private practice specializing in eating and weight management. Dr. Forsyth completed a clinical internship and two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Brown University Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at the Miriam Hospital. She also participated in several research programs applying the stages of motivational readiness to promote physical activity adoption.