Messaging Enjoyment and the Short-term Benefits of Physical Activity[Podcast Series]
[:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Chloë Williamson
Dr. Chloë Williamson is Lecturer in Physical Activity for Health at the University of Edinburgh in the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre.
[1:10] Motivation for researching physical activity messaging
“I think the main one was just sort of why people are active, and thinking about my own experience of the only reason I do it really is because it makes me happy. And just from experience of having family members who have health issues, and they would say that physical activity, they know it's important, but they just, they just don't do it, and it's just sort of, well, why not?”
[3:28] Effective physical activity messaging
“And that's one of the reasons why I like Move Your Way because even though those messages are in there, sort of just because they need to be, there's so many messages that are, whether intentional or not, based on this emerging evidence around promoting enjoyment and the short-term benefits. So yeah, I think there's a gap to be filled in the UK for effective physical activity messaging alongside guidelines.”
[7:46] Physical Activity Messaging Framework
“So the framework is basically the PAMF, an evidence-based tool that organizes different physical activity messaging concepts into a framework that can be used to create new messages. That's the primary purpose to sort of retrospectively categorize existing messages and pick out concepts within messages, and also to help plan evaluation of messages.”
[11:06] Checklist for physical activity messaging
“And there is a checklist that is published alongside the framework that almost puts the framework into a step-by-step. And it's not to say that you have to include everything in the framework, because there's a lot of concepts in there. It's more like, I think of it as, like a menu of considerations.”
[14:49] Messaging physical activity to new mothers
“So then trying to understand what would be important to them to get from physical activity, and it was all about the short-term social, mental health benefits. So talking to other mums, that was huge, and that could be done while walking. Getting fresh air, clearing your mind, just feeling relaxed, having time to yourself, all of that. Improving mood, those were the things. None of them were talking about losing weight. None of them were talking about reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.”
[19:29] Matching messaging to messaging channels
“So part of working through the framework is that consideration of who, where, when, how the message will be delivered, and part of that would be what channel it would go through, what delivery platform it would be on, and also who it's coming from, that's coming through in all of our research is super important. So ideally that whatever delivery channel is being used as one that's been informed by the target audience. So they’ve told you this is where I am open to receiving a message…”
[23:27] Changing how people think about physical activity
“We're not rational, and the guidelines and the way they're traditionally messaged and have been messaged assumes that humans are rational and that they'll do things that they know is good for them. But in actual fact, your day to day behavior is driven by what you enjoy. And if people can find a physical activity they enjoy and if that's how we can change the way people think about physical activity, to not being a chore, to not being a punishment, not being a way to just burn calories, but a way to have fun and feel good, then I think that's what we need to see.”
[29:16] Prioritizing enjoyment and short-term benefits in physical activity messaging
“Don't care about 150 minutes, don't care about 75 minutes, don't worry about all of that. Just focus on enjoyment and moving in a way that feels good, and doing more of that, basically. Those short term benefits are just the most important thing.”
