Feedback and seeing others succeed may build belief in getting active

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   27 studies with 5,501 healthy adults, about 200 people per study. Children, students, athletes, people with a long-term health problem and groups with an average age of 60 or more were left out.

2. 02

   What they did

   Each study tried to build belief that people could be more active, mostly through everyday activity such as walking. Programmes ranged from a few minutes to two years, and each study was checked for its methods.

3. 03

   What happened

   Overall, belief rose a little more than in other groups. Feedback on past results or on others, and seeing similar people succeed, led to bigger rises. Graded mastery, barrier identification and problem solving led to smaller rises.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Across 27 studies, belief in being active rose a little more than in the other groups.

   Pooled analysis of 27 studies with 5,501 people · vs people in the other groups · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. Helped

   Across six tests, feedback on past results left people surer about being active than the other groups.

   • Rule: Get feedback on your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 6 studies with 919 people · vs people in the other groups · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. Helped

   Across five tests, feedback on how others did left people surer about being active than the other groups.

   • Rule: Compete or compare with otherstested

   Pooled analysis of 5 studies with 799 people · vs people in the other groups · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

4. Helped

   Across nine tests, those who saw similar people succeed felt surer than the other groups.

   • Action: Read about someone facing the same problemtested

   Pooled analysis of 9 studies with 2,151 people · vs people in the other groups · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source