Improving physical activity using a single personalized consequence-based approach-avoidance training Effects on self-reported behaviors, attitudes, and choices

Objective: Despite their potential in improving health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA), the effectiveness of interventions targeting automatic precursors remains contrasted. We examined the effects of a single session of ABC training – a personalized consequence-based approach-avoidance training – on PA, relative to an active control condition and a control condition.

Methods: Middle-aged US participants (N = 360, 53 % of women) either completed an ABC training (being instructed to approach PA to obtain self-relevant consequences), an approach-avoidance training (approaching PA in 90 % of trials), or a control training (approaching PA in 50 % of trials). Participants selected antecedents (e.g., “When I have little time”) in which personalized choices between PA and sedentary alternatives were likely to occur. In the ABC training only, after approaching PA, self-relevant consequences were displayed (e.g., increase in the health status of participant's avatar). Primary outcome was self-reported PA seven days after the intervention. Secondary outcomes included choices for PA (vs sedentary) alternatives in a hypothetical free-choice task, intention, automatic and explicit attitudes toward PA.

Results: No significant effect of the ABC intervention on PA was observed, so as on intention and explicit attitudes. However, the ABC intervention was associated with higher odds of choosing PA alternatives in the free-choice task and with more positive automatic attitudes toward PA.

Conclusions: While the ABC training was not effective at improving PA, its effects on choices and automatic attitudes suggest that this intervention may still have potential. Future studies with intensive trainings and device-based measures of PA remains needed.