Programmes raised motivation; goal setting and tracking progress linked to bigger gains.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   Adults in 89 studies, with 19,212 people in 200 study groups. The main results came only from trials that assigned people by chance.

2. 02

   What they did

   The programmes aimed to raise motivation to be active, and each was compared with other groups. The review listed the methods each programme used, such as setting goals and tracking progress.

3. 03

   What happened

   Compared with the other groups, people in these programmes planned to be active more and moved further toward being active. Goal setting went with bigger moves toward action, and tracking progress with bigger plans to be active. The gains were small, and for one result the paper found signs that studies with weaker results were not published.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Across 41 trials, programmes raised people's plans to be active more than the other groups did.

   Pooled analysis of 41 studies · vs the other groups, which did not get the programme · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

2. Helped

   Across 17 study groups, programmes that tracked progress raised plans to be active more than others did.

   • Action: Track your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 0 studies · vs programmes without tracking progress · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

3. Helped

   Across 54 study groups, programmes with goal setting moved people closer to acting than others did.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested

   Pooled analysis of 0 studies · vs programmes without goal setting · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

4. Helped

   Across 20 trials, programmes raised motivation that came from people's own reasons more than the other groups did.

   Pooled analysis of 20 studies · vs the other groups, which did not get the programme · they rated themselves · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

Source