AASP Newsletter - March 2019

Amber Shipherd

Amber M. Shipherd, PhD, CMPC, Texas A&M University – Kingsville

Many of us in the field of sport, exercise, and performance psychology have probably heard "you are only one run away from a good mood," "running is cheaper than therapy," or "stress less, run more." Physical activity (PA), specifically aerobic activity, has long been established as an important health behavior that yields various psychosocial and physical benefits, including improved physical fitness, reduced body fat, improved body image, reduced negative emotional states (e.g., depression, anxiety), improved mood and well-being, improved quality of life, and improved cognitive functioning (Penedo & Dahn, 2005). Specifically, engaging in running and walking for PA has unique health benefits: individuals who are light to moderate runners have lower mortality rates than non-runners with around 30% less risk of death (Lee, Pate, Lavie, Sui, Church, & Blair, 2014).

Diabetes is associated with both obesity and also physical inactivity. Of those with diabetes, Hispanics (a large proportion of the population in South Texas) seem to have less control of their blood glucose levels than their Caucasian counterparts (Selvin et al., 2014). One cost-effective technique for the management of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease is through PA (Ruchat et al., 2013). In Kingsville, Texas, where 73.9% of residents identify as Hispanic, the poverty rate is 29%, (Data USA, 2015), putting residents desperately in need of a low-cost sustainable PA intervention to lower their risk of obesity and other risk factors for the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

Numerous theories and models have been applied to increase PA in various populations, with Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory being one of the more effective and more frequently utilized approaches. Social cognitive theory allows behavior to be examined through a framework comprised of interactions between behaviors, the environment, and personal factors (Bandura, 1997). Therefore, the implemented community walking and running program grounded in social cognitive theory aimed to influence individual’s PA behavior by addressing participants’ level of self-efficacy to overcome barriers, self-efficacy for PA, outcome expectations, amount of social support, and physical environment. 

This community outreach program was developed and implemented in cooperation with the city department of parks and recreation, and included faculty and students from the Department of Health and Kinesiology. Undergraduate students from four kinesiology courses (exercise psychology – 2 sections, exercise testing and prescription, and legal aspects of sports), under the supervision of faculty members, organized and led weekly group runs, provided wellness coaching, conducted health and fitness assessments, coordinated the 5k running/walking event at the end of the program, and assisted in program assessment. The aims for the student participants were to: provide opportunities for undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience in delivering mental skills training programs, apply exercise adherence strategies, apply skills learned in exercise science courses to assess health and fitness, and coordinate and implement community events.

The program is undergoing modifications for the spring semester, so the full program assessment using the RE-AIM framework (Glasgow, Vogt, & Boles, 1999) is not yet completed, however, evaluation data from the fall program revealed the program did not meet all of the proposed objectives for community members. More specifically, the program reach was lower than anticipated. Community members signed up for the 5k event (n = 120) with approximately 58 participating in the 5k event, but only 18 community members participated in the weekly walk/run sessions. With so few participants regularly attending the weekly sessions, we were unable to complete post-testing to appropriately gauge program effectiveness. Two possible reasons for the lack of participants are the timing of the weekly walk/run sessions and program marketing. Based on feedback from a spring 2018 pilot program, the weekly run/walk sessions were changed from Saturday mornings to Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. This time/day change seemed to work better for a number of the students involved with the program, however, several spring 2018 community participants indicated that while they did not like getting up early for the Saturday sessions, that ultimately those were easier to attend. Thus, having one weekday meetup and a Saturday morning meetup are being considered for the future. A potential solution to the program marketing issue is to have sport marketing students assist with this process as part of a class offering.

Regardless of these constraints, qualitative data collected from the students revealed the student learning objectives were met and additional positive unexpected outcomes occurred as well. Students from the exercise psychology classes reported: a) increased motivation to put effort into the course to prepare for working with community members (f = 11), b) feeling more confident in their own ability to perform wellness coaching and work with real people (f = 8), c) improving their own physical activity and awareness of opportunities in the community for physical activity (f = 8), and d) improving rapport with faculty members by interacting with them in this informal setting outside of the classroom (f = 4). Furthermore, several students reported that participating in this program inspired them to help their family members get more active by running or walking together (f = 3). 

Those of you who are planning to implement similar programs in your own communities are encouraged to gather feedback from community members to better serve them and include students in the entire process! Although the program objectives were not all met in the case of this program, the outcomes the students gained made the blood, sweat, and tears more than worth it. Thank you to AASP for providing funding through the Community Outreach Grant. This funding provided essential materials and supplies (e.g., water coolers, course marking materials, t-shirts for participants, etc.) that will allow this program to be continued in the future. 

References

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215. 
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman & Company. 
Data USA. (2018). Kingsville, TX. Retrieved from: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/kingsville-tx/#health
Glasgow, R. E., Vogt, T. M., & Boles, S. M. (1999). Evaluating the public health impact of health promotion interventions: The RE-AIM framework. American Journal of Public Health, 89(9), 1322-1327. 
Lee, D. C., Pate, R. R., Lavie, C. J., Sui, X., Church, T. S., & Blair, S. N. (2014). Leisure-time running reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 64(5), 472-481.
Penedo, F. J., & Dahn, J. R. (2005). Exercise and well-being: A review of mental and physical health benefits associated with physical activity. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 18(2), 189-193.
Ruchat, S. M., Houde, A. A., Voisin, G., St-Pierre, J., Perron, P., Baillargeon, J. P., ... & Bouchard, L. (2013). Gestational diabetes mellitus epigenetically affects genes predominantly involved in metabolic diseases. Epigenetics, 8(9), 935-943.
Selvin, E., Parrinello, C. M., Sacks, D. B., & Coresh, J. (2014). Trends in prevalence and control of diabetes in the United States, 1988–1994 and 1999–2010. Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(8), 517-525.