Prosocial Exercise: Does Exercising for Charity Result in Greater Well-Being and Physical Activity?
NCT ID: NCT02573454
Last Updated: 2017-05-09
Study Results
The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.
Basic Information
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COMPLETED
NA
117 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2015-02-28
2015-11-30
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Well-being is often conceptualized from two separate fields of study: hedonia and eudaimonia. Hedonia is concerned with the experience of pleasure and the avoidance of pain and is often equated to happiness. Conversely, eudaimonia is associated with more existential concerns and is sometimes equated with 'personal meaning'.
While hedonic well-being has been reliably linked to increased physical activity behaviour, less is understood about the possible effects of eudaimonic well-being on exercise engagement. As such, research should work towards developing a greater understanding of the relationship between well-being and physical activity. In doing so, research may be able to ascertain whether the experience of both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being is effective in increasing exercise engagement.
One particular behaviour that has been reliably linked to well-being is prosocial behaviour, or behaviour undertaken voluntarily with the aim of aiding or benefitting others. In particular, a wide variety of research has established a link between well-being and prosocial behaviours including volunteering and prosocial spending. Furthermore, engaging in prosocial behaviour has been identified as an effective means of motivating individuals and increasing performance.
As prosocial behaviour has been linked to increased hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, and as prosocial motivation has been identified as a powerful means of behaviour change, prosocial exercise, or engaging in physical activity to benefit others, may produce increases in well-being and future physical activity behaviour. As prosocial exercise is a common and popular activity (e.g., engaging in charity runs such as Run for the Cure or Relay for Life), research should work to ascertain whether increased well-being is related to prosocial exercise, and whether this association results in increased exercise behaviour.
In order to test this, students will be recruited to take part in a two-week experiment, whereby half of the students will be randomly assigned to a prosocial exercise condition (and use the prosocial exercise app, 'Charity Miles'), and half will be randomly assigned to a personal exercise condition (and utilize a standard exercise app, Nike+ Running). Participants' eudaimonic and hedonic well-being and exercise behaviour will be assessed at baseline and two weeks following, as well as before and after each use of the exercise app. It is hypothesized that the participants in the prosocial exercise condition will report greater exercise engagement compared to participants in the standard condition, and that this relationship will be mediated by hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
TREATMENT
SINGLE
Study Groups
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Prosocial Exercise
Participants are provided with the intervention (App Assignment). In this arm, the participants are randomly assigned to the Prosocial Exercise group use a GPS exercise app named Charity Miles, in which users can earn donations for charities based on the miles they walk or run (approximately 25 cents for every mile).
App assignment
Under-active undergraduates are assigned to use a GPS exercise app that is prosocial (i.e., allows the user to raise money for charities) or personal (does not allow the user to raise money for charities) in nature
Personal Exercise
Participants are provided with the intervention (App Assignment). In this arm, the participants are randomly assigned to the Personal Exercise group use a traditional GPS exercise app named Nike + Running, in which users can track the mileage that they walk or run (i.e., there is no opportunity to earn donations for charity through exercise behaviour).
App assignment
Under-active undergraduates are assigned to use a GPS exercise app that is prosocial (i.e., allows the user to raise money for charities) or personal (does not allow the user to raise money for charities) in nature
Interventions
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App assignment
Under-active undergraduates are assigned to use a GPS exercise app that is prosocial (i.e., allows the user to raise money for charities) or personal (does not allow the user to raise money for charities) in nature
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* undergraduate student at UBC,
* owns a smart phone (i.e., android or iPhone), and
* participates in a maximum of three 30 minute sessions of moderate-vigorous activity per week.
Exclusion Criteria
18 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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University of British Columbia
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Mark Beauchamp
Dr. Mark Beauchamp
Principal Investigators
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Mark Beauchamp, PhD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
University of British Columbia
Locations
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University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Countries
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References
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Colley RC, Garriguet D, Janssen I, Craig CL, Clarke J, Tremblay MS. Physical activity of Canadian adults: accelerometer results from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Rep. 2011 Mar;22(1):7-14.
Segar ML, Eccles JS, Richardson CR. Rebranding exercise: closing the gap between values and behavior. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2011 Aug 31;8:94. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-8-94.
Segar ML, Richardson CR. Prescribing pleasure and meaning: cultivating walking motivation and maintenance. Am J Prev Med. 2014 Dec;47(6):838-41. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2014.07.001. Epub 2014 Aug 26. No abstract available.
Ryan RM, Deci EL. On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annu Rev Psychol. 2001;52:141-66. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141.
Rhodes RE, Fiala B, Conner M. A review and meta-analysis of affective judgments and physical activity in adult populations. Ann Behav Med. 2009 Dec;38(3):180-204. doi: 10.1007/s12160-009-9147-y.
Bierhoff, H. W. (2005). Prosocial behaviour. New York: Psychology Press.
Thoits PA, Hewitt LN. Volunteer work and well-being. J Health Soc Behav. 2001 Jun;42(2):115-31.
Dunn EW, Aknin LB, Norton MI. Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science. 2008 Mar 21;319(5870):1687-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1150952.
Grant, A. M., Campbell, E. M., Chen, G., Cottone, K., Lapedis, D., & Lee, K. (2007). Impact and the art of motivation maintenance: The effects of contact with beneficiaries on persistence behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 103(1), 53-67.
Other Identifiers
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H14-03018
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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