Research Symposium Program - Individual Details

Decreasing Personal Response Effort For Improved Workout Attendance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to utilize self-management strategies by manipulating antecedent modifications to increase exercising behavior. Self-management procedures are where behavior modification strategies are used to enhance, decrease or maintain their own behavior (Miltenberger, 2023). Meanwhile, antecedent modifications are manipulated stimuli that increase a desired behavior (Miltenberger, 2023). Increasing exercising behavior was chosen due to the subject’s desire to increase weekly workouts for the purpose of receiving overall health benefits. It was hypothesized that if antecedent modifications (stimulus control and response effort) are manipulated, then the occurrence of the desired behavior will increase.

In the studies conducted by Keller & Engelhardt (2014) and by Mikkelsen et al. (2017), they found that exercise positively improved mental health and well-being for symptoms such as anxiety, depression, high rates of stress and muscle strength declined as early as 30 years old in participants. Additionally, Miller et al. (2016), suggests that individuals should exercise two-to-five times per week for aerobic activity and two-to-three times per week for muscular activity to increase physical health and prevent the onset of potentially life-threatening diseases (Miller et al., 2016). According to He & Ye (2020) from Physical Exercise for Human Health, humans lose muscle strength as age increases and exercise is necessary to compensate for that loss. By implementing the treatments described below, the likelihood of the student increasing their gym attendance is greater as well as improves the likelihood for the student to gain positive health benefits from regular exercise.

Keywords: Self-management; Antecedent modification; Exercise