Freedom Philosophy

Discussion

I met with some successes regarding the flexibility test results (see Table 2). These outcomes were subject to confounding variables, however, such as getting involved with roller skiing during week four. This new sport taxed my upper body muscles perhaps explaining an overall decrease in shoulder flexibility. These numbers may also be the result of other factors such as time of day when the test was completed or preceding exercise and stage of recovery. Regardless of their value in assessing progress, it was motivating to know I would be evaluating myself against the same tests at the end of the program. On numerous occasions I held a stretch just a little longer with the intent of doing better on the tests.

A better indicator of behavioral success was the specific number of flexibility sessions or minutes per week. When evaluated against the original behavioral criteria of at least one flexibility session per day with three to four 30 minute or longer sessions per week, I was successful during the first two weeks of the intervention and less successful during the last two weeks. Even though week three saw almost two hours of the desired health related behavior it failed with regard to the set criteria. Week four, while slightly higher in minutes than week three, was qualitatively when I was the most removed from the program. Week four also did not reach the longer stretch session goals.

Through the various tasks of the motivational phase, I developed significant intentionality. The reflections enabled me to amplify the risks I had detected on training rides preceding the intervention, identify possible positive outcomes of change, and recognize my own level of efficacy. The motivational or intention building phase of this program was immediately followed by the most successful volitional week.

As also informed by the Health Belief Model (Becker, 1979; Eraker, Kirscht, & Becker, 1984) the program benefitted from social factors. Social support from both a blog reply and my yoga instructor helped me manage some wrist pain. Also when I linked to the pros and cons template, the template designer Amanda Hawkins received a ping-back. Excited that I was using her template, she sent a message out on Twitter to her 400 plus followers with a link to this project. I was inspired by the sense of connection this project had fostered. In part due to this attention, I began the program highly motivated. The mixed results further calls into question the assumption of the theory of planned behavior that intention is the most significant predictor of behavior (Blanchard et al., 2003; Scholz, Keller, & Perren, 2009). Schwarzer (2008) noted,

It is quite common that people do not behave in accordance with their intentions. For example, unforeseen barriers emerge, and people give in to temptations. In a postintentional phase, various factors can compromise or facilitate the translation of intentions into action (p. 3).

Schwarzer argued that the subsequent action phase including action and coping strategies is more influential regarding actual behavioral change. These observations are consistent with my experience as well.

When I encountered the barriers in weeks three and four, the initial intentionality that I had approached the first two weeks almost vanished. It occurred to me during my week at the seminar that my intentions had been formed with my regular routine in mind. Once the original routine was compromised, those intentions lost influence. Because of the coping planning process of the HAPA, I recognized the threat this line of thinking caused and was able to modify my workout content and durations to fit the new context.

Other elements that helped maintain the program during weeks three and four were the automated mobile phone reminders and the text message motivational phrases. Each of those mechanisms served a separate but related purpose. The message would arrive daily at a time when I should have been able to at least execute a short stretch session. This made it impossible for me to dismiss the program entirely even during the busiest days. The motivational phrases were only marginally inspiring for flexibility training but I was curious to see which one I had included in a particular reminder so I opened the text messages rather than delete them straight away. This may have raised my level of engagement with the program. Had it not been for the action and coping strategies of the HAPA it remains a possibility that I would have dropped the program entirely.

During the motivational phase, self-efficacy was treated as a singular concept as belief in ones ability to see things through to completion. Relevant to the process I experienced, Schwarzer (2008) distinguished self-efficacy into action self-efficacy, maintenance self-efficacy, and recovery self-efficacy. Action self-efficacy, as the optimistic beliefs about anticipated potential outcomes, was the most prominent form in this program. Maintenance self-efficacy, as optimism about one’s ability to overcome barriers, was slightly less influential. High maintenance self-efficacy is associated with greater effort during times of adversity. Rather than rise to meet the occasion, in my case, I opted to adjust the goal to 20 minutes in place of the targeted 30 minute duration. Recovery self-efficacy, as the ability to restore hope and bounce back after setbacks, was the least represented of the three. Because the setbacks occurred at the close of this project, recovery self-efficacy was not possible to observe. More attention with regard to the three forms and corresponding phases of self-efficacy rather than one blanket concept may have seen this program to greater levels of success.

Recommendations

In the motivational phase of this program I found having a full week to reflect on my level of risk awareness, pros and cons related to possible outcomes, and the introduce action self-efficacy beneficial regarding intention. I didn’t feel like I was forced into action. I had the time to prepare and enter into action planning on my terms. Working with future clients, it may be helpful to build in time as required so each client enters into the change process when they are ready. It was helpful to have an intended volitional start date however, as I did feel a need to prepare for action. While it is possible that certain health change behaviors may be of urgent importance, other less critical concerns may permit more time in building intent.

As an associated strategy, these exercises were posted on the blog, shared with 450 friends on facebook, and sent to 100 followers on twitter. The feedback I received through these channels was very enjoyable and rewarding. The creative process of documenting these steps in a way that was both visually appealing and of interest to others was engaging. The act of sharing my process gave me the sense that the program I had undertaken might benefit someone else other than me. While I wouldn’t make any of these social networking tools a required strategy for future clients, they are becoming increasingly influential modes of interaction (Shirky, 2008, Chapter 2) and may be resources clients could find beneficial. As a minor downside, the awareness that these exercises would be hosted on-line did influence what I chose to include. While the reflections were authentic, I intentionally melded a combination of self-disclosure and information about art pad or the pros and cons template, for example, so others might find these posts more useful.

As another use of technology, Google calendar is a free and highly functional resource for this work. For clients who rely on their mobile phones or who regularly access email, this technology appears very promising for health behavior change programs. Further, the inclusion of the motivational phrases gave each message a unique quality. While I intentionally chose sport related quotations for this project, it stands to reason that almost any theme a client chose could help foster a positive reaction to the reminders.

The three different types of flexibility workouts were useful. As a graduate student with a full time job, two children under 8 years old, a working spouse and a dog, there were days when all I could manage to free up was 10 minutes. Had the workouts been standardized to a mandatory 30 minutes, there may have been days when I wouldn’t have done anything. While flexibility training isn’t as critical as managing blood sugar levels in diabetes, for instance, in cases where variation can be accommodated this seems like a useful mechanism.

A clear shortcoming in the design of this program and key outcome of the project was in providing sole attention to action efficacy. More explicit provisions for maintenance efficacy and recovery efficacy would be beneficial. The first two weeks of the program went very well. Week three and four were negatively influenced by a routine and foreseeable disruption. During the action and coping planning stages of this program design phase, I failed to look ahead at my actual calendar to see what lay ahead. Had I done so I would have been able to see a four-day seminar at the start of week three that would have required more specific program maintenance provisions. I see in hindsight that I could have easily divided the 30 minute home stretch session into two 15 minute workouts and still met the target goal. Working with clients, it could be very useful to sit down together with a calendar and look for disruptions in routine and create effective coping strategies thus increasing maintenance efficacy.

Lastly, while the term self-efficacy may imply a level of person autonomy, in this program some true interpersonal accountability would have been beneficial. While the use of social network technology was helpful, had I been working with a partner with similar goals or a coach, it is possible that I would have had greater motivation.

As far as continuation of the program is concerned, I have less formally carried on with stretching in all three capacities. I am planning on staying with the yoga class at least until June and appreciate having the 10 minute and 30 minute workouts memorized so I can do them whenever I have time. I have been on vacation for the past 10 days so the behavioral goals that started the program were easy to achieve. Future success both personally and with clients will lie in remembering to cultivate and draw upon maintenance and recovery efficacy to best sustain new health related behaviors.

References

Art.com ArtPad. (2010). Retrieved Feb 4, 2010 from art.com, art.com: http://artpad.art.com/​gallery/.

A stretch-break program for your workplace! . (2004). Retrieved February 14, 2010 from National Quality Institue, Healthy Workplace Month: http://bit.ly/​stretchbreak.

Blanchard, C., Rhodes, R., Nehl, E., Fisher, J., Sparling, P., & Courneya, K. (2003). Ethnicity and the Theory of Planned Behavior in the Exercise Domain. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(6), 579-591. Retrieved January 20, 2010 from Academic Search Complete database.

Clark, A. T. (2010). Flexibility Self-Change Project. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from Freedom Philosophy: http://freedomphilosophy.com/​school/​gcap-self-change-project/.

Hawkins, A. (2010). Pros and Cons. Retrieved February 06, 2010 from Ahhh-design: http://ahhh-design.com/​pros-and-cons/

Flexibility Tests. (2010). Retrieved January 23, 2010 from Top End Sports, Fitness Testing: http://www.topendsports.com/testing/flex.htm.

Motivational Quotes. (2009). Retrieved January 23, 2010 from Top End Sports, Sports

Scholz, U., Keller, R., & Perren, S. (2009). Predicting behavioral intentions and physical exercise: A test of the health action process approach at the intrapersonal level. Health Psychology, 28(6), 702-708. doi:10.1037/a0016088.

Schwarzer, R. (2008). Modeling Health Behavior Change: How to Predict and Modify the Adoption and Maintenance of Health Behaviors. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57(1), 1-29. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00325.x.

Shirky, C. (2008). Here comes everybody: the power of organizing without organizations. New York: Penguin Press.