Putting theory into (an already existing) practice

As someone who started their professional journey aiming for a job in elite sport, I must admit that I hadn't spent much time exploring psychological frameworks of physical activity in clinical populations. Now, as someone who is beginning to develop their business within exercise psychology and wellbeing, I have had to go back to the books to learn about the fundamental frameworks of exercise psychology, and a great place to start was with the Biddle et al. (2007) paper "Theoretical Frameworks in Exercise Psychology".

When it comes to frameworks of exercise psychology, there are a number of well-established, well-studied, and very well-used theories that have been developed around behaviour change and motivation. Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2012), self-efficacy theory (SET; Bandura, 1977), and the more modern transtheoretical model (TTM; Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982) are three commonly used theories in understanding behaviour and supporting behaviour change. These theories generally have a number of factors that influence behaviour and ways in which actions can be influenced to encourage and maintain behaviour changes. Theories such as these have been used in so many different contexts with different populations that I couldn't possibly list them all, however I recently read a case study about an organisation supporting people with disabilities to engage in physical activity, and I noticed a distinct lack of theoretical framework in their business.

Whilst learning more about physical activity in clinical groups (people with chronic illnesses and disabilities), I have found less clear-cut frameworks to support interventions. In this case study that I read recently - "Magic Carpet Ride: A Narrative Exploration of Disability and Adaptive Physical Activity" (Busanich & McAfee, 2023), a physical activity organisation for people with disabilities was examined, and the authors explored the benefits of adapted physical activity for the population. One notable difference I found, compared to common sports literature, was the lack of a stringent evidence-based framework of behaviour change that was followed. Whilst I am sure that if I ended up working with an organisation such as this, we might be able to use a psychological framework to create evidence-based reasoning for the interventions that they provide, I admired the adaptability of the organisation, and it's desire to find what works for the specific people that they support. As the case study was just a snapshot of how the organisation runs, I assume there are a number of considerations running in the background that might make up their 'framework' of practice. I do know that the organisation outlined some clear barriers to physical activity for their target demographic, and built their business around trying to break down their barriers - perhaps that in itself is the beginnings of a theory of intervention? Therefore, I thought we would do an experiment, and pretend that we (well I) will be coming onboard the organisation as the psychologist.

The most common barriers that the organisation identified was a lack of confidence in one's ability to engage in physical activity, fear, and feeling unsafe. The organisation, named APAO (adapted physical activity organisation) for anonymity reasons, had put practices in place to limit the aforementioned barriers. The volunteers who run the activities must undergo intense training in not only their activity, but also in various health and safety measures to reduce the risk of any accidents or near-misses, this was shown to reduce the fear participants felt, and made them feel safe when doing activities. Additionally, APAO focused on supporting staff and the individuals to build strong and trusting relationships between one another, again to support participants to feel safe and supported when trying activities.

Reading the case study, I can see the naturally occurring elements of theoretical frameworks, particularly the self-efficacy theory. If I were to start working with APAO, I would be inclined to start establishing a clear link between the work that they are doing, and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). Self-efficacy is describing one's belief in their ability to successfully engage in a specific activity, and therefore I think is a good fit for this organisation (based on what we already know). APAO seem to aim to develop an individual's confidence in doing a type of physical activity, therefore it appears that they are trying to develop an individual's self-efficacy. Self-efficacy theory would suggest four main ways to support someone to do this:

1. through mastery experiences - trying and succeeding in similar tasks

2. through modelling - watching someone similar to themself achieve the task

3. through social persuasion - having other people encourage them and support them

through one's physiological responses - being able to calm the body when you're under stress

Based on the above information, APAO may be already doing several of these. From the limited information in the case study, APAO do go out in groups and therefore it is acceptable to assume participants may be able to witness other people with disabilities carrying out activities (modelling). Additionally, the case study reinforces how important APAO find encouragement and support from the staff, therefore we can assume that they have the persuasion element covered too. Where APAO may be able to work on building a stronger foundation framework would be through the judgements of physiological states and by building up prior successes. The organisation may be able to add in an element of their program where they learn a number of mindfulness exercises, to help calm the body when one finds themself in a stressful situation. Activities such as box-breathing, identifying 5 things for the 5 senses, and even a mindful sip of a drink, may be able to help someone's body move away from a fight or flight response, and begin to enjoy the activity more. Finally, by creating specific programs for each person, APAO may be able to gradually build confidence in an activity, whilst reducing the risk of failure and increasing the sense of mastery. Small but gradual steps up in difficulty should help someone get used to new activities and maintain their confidence.

Near-future Rachael is aiming to deep-dive into a number of theories of behaviour change in the hopes of coming to the table with a new client equipped with a strong understanding of what might work for them, as it certainly doesn't feel like a strong suit of mine right now, however even simple exercises like the one I have just done above, seems to bit by bit tell me that I do know somethings and I can (probably) support people to engage in, and maintain behaviour change. Exploring exercise psychology more in 2025 is an exciting opportunity for me, and one that I truly do feel will send me in the right direction for what I'm passionate about. Here's hoping that I can start putting theory into practice soon!

References

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change. Psychological Review, 84.

Biddle, S. J., Hagger, M. S., Chatzisarantis, N. L., & Lippke, S. (2007). Theoretical frameworks in exercise psychology. Handbook of sport psychology, 3, 537-559.

Busanich, R., & McAfee, E. (2023). Magic carpet ride: A narrative exploration of disability and adaptive physical activity. Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology, 7(1), 55-62.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Self-determination theory. Handbook of theories of social psychology, 1(20), 416-436.

Prochaska, J. O., & DiClemente, C. C. (1982). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change. Psychotherapy: theory, research & practice, 19(3), 276.