Studies On Relapse Behavior and Exercise

http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2010/11/
exercise-and-depression-its-complicated.html

"Low-Cost Strategies for Increasing Exercise Behavior : Relapse Preparation Training and Social Support,” by Abby C. King published in the Behavior Modification Journal, outlines a study that was conducted on exercise regiments in 18-20 year old female psychology students.  The study was conducted to measure how social support and relapse preparation could prevent “Drop out” syndrome frequent among men and women who join exercise programs.  The author suggests that drop out rates from these program are frequently between 33% and 70%.  The relapse preparation program outlines similar psychological patterns between men and women trying to break a habit or create new ones.  King suggests that the implementation of social support and relapse preparation as a substitute for positive reinforcement lowers the drop out rates from exercise programs.

    The social support part of the study was constructed to measure the effect of grouping members of these programs together to accomplish similar fitness goals.  Members of this group had no prior history and acknowledged that they had never met before.  In addition, members of this group were encouraged to restrict their social interaction to jogging only.  No group was constructed of participants that were socially active before the participation of this study.  The members compared interests with one another in the fields of music and personal background.  The groups also submitted to a 12 minute run to match groups of joggers according to their physical fitness at the initialization of the study.  The participants in the social support part of the study were told to initialize times and days for their runs each week.  This pushed the individuals away from creating a routine regimen and created an additional step to follow through with their fitness plans.  In addition, groups were given team shirts and numbers representing the individual jogger.
    The relapse preparation group was constructed following programs similar to recovering alcoholics, or quitting smokers.  The groups were asked to identify specific times during the study where relapse would be likely.  For instance, exam weeks or holidays.  Individuals in this group were given mental cognition tests designed to test how participants would handle potential relapses.  These tests were designed to measure how relapses might effect the individuals mindset and determination to reach their fitness goal.  Information how serious relapses in the exercise program could be for the long term fitness regiment per individual.
    Both a control group and a combined group were added to the study.  Individuals placed in the control group were told to jog alone.  Individuals in the combined group received the combined relapse prevention and social support techniques.  Participants were given jogging cards to monitor the duration and time of their jogs.  All participants jogged at an in closed 330 meter track and placed their cards in a lock box at the conclusion of their exercise.  Staff members also kept records of which participants they saw jogging throughout the day and placed the records in the lock box after each setting.  To keep the study unobtrusive, no effort was made to characterize the intensity of the jogs.  All teams were encouraged to jog 4 times a weak at their convenience.  
    Results showed that the social support group and the relapse prevention group individually were twice as likely to follow through with their exercise regiments when compared to the control group.  This information suggests that social support and relapse prevention are both valid procedures that could be introduced to encourage behavior modification concerning physical fitness methods.  However, the combined group scored lower than the social support and relapse prevention groups individually.  King speculates that this derives from the relapse prevention cognitive test scores.  The mean scores for the combined group were lower than those of the relapse prevention group, therefore suggesting that relapse in exercise regiments were more likely to disrupt the physical fitness regiment of the individuals in the combined group.  
    King writes that the most prevalent attack on drop out rates from exercise programs from physical fitness trainers and other professionals is positive reinforcement both during and after exercise programs.  The results of this study conclude that social support and relapse prevention techniques should be introduced into today’s physical fitness plans to lower drop out rates and help individuals reach their physical fitness goals.