Exploring Motivational Strategies in the WHISH Trial: An Embedded Substudy

The Women's Health Initiative Strong and Healthy (WHISH) trial is testing the hypothesis that a centralized, public health intervention designed to increase and/or maintain physical activity levels and reduce sedentary behavior will reduce incidence of major CVD clinical events (myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular disease related death) in older women. The efficacy of the trial depends on the ability of the intervention materials to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior in the intervention group compared to the control group. Effectively motivating participants is of great importance.

This sub-study examines motivation in WHISH intervention women through an analysis of participant responses to the question "Think about the last time you didn't feel like being active. How did you get yourself to move or get up?" Analyses of the 4,092 participant responses provides a basis upon which relevant motivational messages will be generated to encourage physical activity in the intervention participants. In addition, findings will contribute to the understanding of how older women motivate themselves to be physically active.