AHFMR News
New research addresses fitness behaviours and low participation rates
(Edmonton, AB) Tuesday, December 12, 2006... Every holiday season many of us overindulge at parties and festive gatherings. Then we make new year’s resolutions to eat better, get in shape, and adopt healthy lifestyles - resolutions that most of us find next to impossible to accomplish. Ever wonder why we can’t seem to make these changes? One Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) investigator at the University of Alberta is working to understand why.
Dr. Tanya Berry, a new AHFMR Population Health Investigator at the University of Alberta, is an exercise psychologist who examines the motivations and persuasive techniques behind campaigns promoting exercise and why in general they fail to change behaviours in the general population.
A photo opportunity with a researcher in a physical fitness centre with participants exercising will be available
| What: | Media opportunity to interview Dr. Tanya Berry | |
| When: | Tuesday December 12, 2006 | |
| Time: | 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon * | |
| Where: |
University of Alberta – Fitness and Lifestyle room Van Vliet Physical Education & Recreation Centre 115 St. & 87th Ave |
Please call Dwayne Brunner, AHFMR Communications, at (780) 429-9344 to book an interview time.
Backgrounder
Dr. Tanya Berry is an AHFMR Population Health Investigator and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Berry examines ways to construct a better physical activity message. She is investigating how physical fitness messages can be improved to encourage non exercisers to change their behaviours and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
In a recent survey, only 21% of Albertans were aware of Canada’s Physical Activity Guide.
A 2002 Alberta Physical Activity Survey showed that Albertans between the ages of 45 and 64 reported a significantly higher belief in the health benefits of physical activity than Albertans in the 18-24 and over 65 categories.
Dr. Berry’s proposed research program is the first to provide an in-depth examination of physical activity promotion and persuasion. Physical activity promotion messages have proven to be largely ineffectual and a need exists to understand how to better construct physical activity-related messages. Her research will lay the groundwork for an interdisciplinary approach to increasing physical activity in Canada. Ultimately, the end result will be a guide for physical activity promotion and will provide a foundation for future research into creating and testing promotion materials using Dr. Berry’s model and materials as a guideline.
Research shows that messages promoting physical activity, to improve one’s health, only motivate those who are already active and engaged in a physical fitness regimen. Non exercisers are not persuaded to begin exercising by such advertising campaigns. In fact, some of Dr. Berry’s research shows that these campaigns don’t even grab the attention of non exercisers.
The Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research currently provides funding for more than 600 researchers and researchers-in-training at the province’s three main universities. AHFMR’s commitment is to fund health research based on international standards of excellence and is carried out by new and established investigators and researchers-in-training. Total AHFMR funding for more than a quarter of a century is in excess of $850 million. For more information, visit www.ahfmr.ab.ca.