Processes of change used by healthcare workers to participate in physical activity: What motivates healthcare workers to exercise?

Abstract

The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of the stages and processes of change describes five different stages of motivational readiness, which is common, tomost behaviour change processes. The aim of this study was to identify processes of change that healthcare workers (HCWs) use to progress from one stage of physical activity (PA) to another. This was a retrospective quantitative descriptive design involving 163 HCWs who were previously exposed to different education and motivation to exercise for a period of 6 months. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires, and anthropometric measures were taken pre and post interventions. Data were analysed using SPSS version 18.0 for descriptive statistical analysis. Chi-square was used to draw the inferential associations.The results showed that all the ten processes of change influenced the exercise behaviour of HCWs. However, the most utilized construct was behavioural processes by HCWs at action stage compared to those at pre-action stages who mainly used cognitive processes. The least utilized constructs were helping relationships (54%) and stimulus control (64%) by all HCWs. Medical staff significantly used conscious raising as compared to nonmedical staff (p=0.038), and males used less dramatic relief process (53.67%) as compared to females (79%). Results show that precontemplators only utilized two processes of change. This demonstrated the extent of their resistance to change despite the efforts made to increase their exposure levels to PA interventions. Helping relationships and stimulus control were the least utilized processes. Hence, it is essential to incorporate both cognitive and behavioural processes as motivation to persuade HCWs to exercise.

Keywords: Transtheoretical Model, processes of change, healthcare workers, physical activity.