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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1498351
This article is part of the Research Topic Online Assessment in Health and Sport Psychology View all 7 articles

Behavior Change Wheel as a Tool to Promote Physical Activity in Online Intervention: A Case Study

Provisionally accepted
Nuno Couto Nuno Couto 1,2*Vitor Morgado Vitor Morgado 1Tomás Pereira Tomás Pereira 1Anabela Vitorino Anabela Vitorino 1,2Teresa Bento Teresa Bento 1,2Susana Alves Susana Alves 1,3Pedro Alexandre Duarte-Mendes Pedro Alexandre Duarte-Mendes 3,4Luis Cid Luis Cid 1,2
  • 1 Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior, Santarém Polytechnic University, Rio Maior, Portugal
  • 2 Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
  • 3 Sport Physical Activity and Health Research and Innovation Center, College of Education of Coimbra, Rio Maior, Santarém, Portugal
  • 4 Department of Sports and Well-being, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal, Castelo Branco, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Physical activity (PA) has significant health benefits. However, one in four adults does not meet the globally recommended levels of PA. Considering that PA behavior is influenced by various factors operating at multiple levels, including personal, social, and environmental factors, a single-subject behavioral change intervention was developed to promote PA behavior through online sessions. Method: Based on a one-to-one methodology, the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) methodologymodel was used to design an intervention that was developed for 24 weeks, including eight weeks of online sessions and 16 weeks of follow-up. Results: We observed an increase of metabolic equivalent (MET-min/week) (baseline = 2970; eight weeks = 6440; 24 weeks = 6744) and daily steps (baseline = 8372; eight weeks = 10234; 24 weeks = 12142), which provides some evidence for the efficacy of online methodologies, especially in the relation one-to-one.The intervention, designed through BCW, had a positive effect in promoting more PA behavior in adults and provided evidence that can be used in further interventions that aim to increase PA levels in the population; however, future studies must be conducted to expand the evidence in other domains.

    Keywords: physical activity, behavior change, intervention, behavior change wheel (BCW), behavior change techniques (BCTs)

    Received: 18 Sep 2024; Accepted: 29 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Couto, Morgado, Pereira, Vitorino, Bento, Alves, Duarte-Mendes and Cid. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nuno Couto, Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior, Santarém Polytechnic University, Rio Maior, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.