Purpose: To increase exercise adherence among insufficiently active adult employees.
Design: A quasi-experimental separate samples pre-test–post-test group design was used to compare treatment and comparison group.
Setting: The worksite.
Subjects: Employees (n = 127) who did not meet current American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommendations for exercise.
Intervention: An eight-week educational programme targeting the social cognitive theory constructs.
Measures: Free-living exercise, self-regulation, self-efficacy, social support, and outcome expectations and expectancies. Measurement was at pre-test, post-test, one month and three months post-intervention.
Analysis: One-way analysis of variance.
Results: The treatment group reported important increases in exercise and mediators of exercise. There was a significant difference between groups for moderate intensity exercise and vigorous intensity exercise at post-test and follow-up (p = .001). There was a significant difference between groups for self-regulation at post-test and follow-up (p = .001). There was not a significant difference between groups for self-efficacy or outcome expectancies. Family and friend social support group differences were non-significant at post-test and one-month follow-up, but was significant difference at three-month follow-up (p = .001). Outcome expectations and expectancies were non-significant at all time periods.
Conclusion: The educational intervention was effective in increasing the exercise rates of employees at the worksite.
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