Health Psychology Commons^™

Systemic Growth Factor Increases As A Result Of Exercise May Reduce Alzheimer's Disease Risk In Midlife Mice And Humans, Amanda Hewes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with insidious onset and slow progression. AD research has traditionally been based on neuronal and glial dysfunction due to hallmark beta-amyloid and tau pathologies. Although literature supports an association between AD and cardiovascular disease and/or cardiovascular risk factors, vascular dysfunction as an etiology of AD has been overlooked. Cardiovascular risk factors have been associated with both cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease in midlife individuals, an age at which modifiable risk factor management may be the most beneficial. Up to half of AD cases worldwide and in the USA are attributable to modifiable risk factors. …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Quality Of Life: A Mediating Role Of Physical Activity And Executive Function, Loni Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ACEs have been associated with heightened risk for a range of chronic health problems, substance use, and cognition in adulthood (Center for Disease Control (CDC), 2019; Hinojosa et al., 2017). One potential protective factor is physical activity (McEwen, 2016; Wu et al., 2013). Physical activity is associated with sustaining overall health, improving mental health by reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety (Murri et al., 2019; Sharma et al., 2006; Tasci et al., 2019), and maintaining a healthy body weight and BMI (WHO, 2021). Therefore, this study examined whether barriers to physical activity, physical activity levels, and executive outcomes serve as …

Let's Get Physical: Exploring The Socioemotional Motivators Of Group Exercise For Older Adults, Tessneem S. Hasan, Alyssa R. Minton, Jason Snyder, Joseph A. Mikels

DePaul Discoveries

Approximately 75% of active adults in the U.S. do not meet the recommended levels of overall physical activity (CDC, 2021a). Given the beneficial impact of physical activity on health, an 8-week long, evidence-based group exercise program—Fit & Strong! (F&S!)—was created to improve the health of older adults (Hughes et al., 2004, 2006, 2010). Despite the clear physical benefits of F&S!, it remains unknown what motivates F&S! participants to initially participate in the program and also throughout the program. Drawing from core notions of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), research has found that older adults are highly motivated to exercise …

Determining The Optimal Exercise Intensity Level For Adjunctive Treatment Of Major Depressive Disorder, C James Block

Clinical Research in Practice: The Journal of Team Hippocrates

A clinical decision report using:

Helgadóttir B, Hallgren M, Ekblom Ö, Forsell Y. Training fast or slow? Exercise for depression: A randomized controlled trial. Prev Med. 2016;91:123-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.08.011

for a patient seeking an exercise regimen to help with depressive symptoms.

Does Social Support Mediate The Relationship Between Locus Of Control And Activity Levels?, Leah L. Oglesby

Masters Theses

The aim of the present study is to examine the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between internal locus of control (LOC) and engagement in activity, treating general physical activity and deliberate exercise as specific and separate domains. Two models will be investigated: a domain-general model and an exercise-specific model, the former examining the mediating effect of general social support on the relationship between health locus of control and general physical activity and the latter examining the mediating effect of exercise-specific social support on the relationship between exercise LOC and deliberate exercise engagement. Survey responses from 279 college-aged …

Evaluating The Effects Of Client-Set Versus Coach-Set Goals In The Context Of A Health-Coaching Intervention For Physical Activity, J. Logan Gibson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Health coaching is a relatively new integrated health role in which practitioners use a combination of behavioral interventions to evoke health-related behavior changes; however, there is a lack of valid evidence to support health-based claims. We investigated the effect of an approximation of a health coaching intervention on three college students' number of steps per day. We provided participants with weekly telehealth coaching sessions focused on goal-setting and feedback and used Fitbits to track the results. We used a multiple baseline across participants design to compare daily steps across four phases; self-monitoring, self-monitoring with experimenter-set goals and feedback, self-monitoring with …

The Effect Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On How Social Media Use Influences Eating Disorders And Exercise Motivation, Abhilasha Kumar

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted the life of every individual. Stay-at-home orders imposed to control the spread of the virus have only led to an increase in social media use to stay connected with others. College students were particularly affected by the measures put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 due to geographical, social, and economic changes (Aristovnik et al., 2020). The stress caused by these changes can increase eating disorder symptoms (Lacey et al., 1986) and exercise behaviors (Kim & McKenzie, 2014). The aim of the study is to observe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic …