10.6: Enhancing Social Support and Social Influences

Interventions that promote social support have been shown to be effective, especially when used alongside other interventions that incorporate behavioral components such as goal setting and behavior contracts (Heath et al., 2012). There are numerous strategies to increase social support in efforts to promote physical activity. Some examples of social approaches include buddy systems, creation of walking groups, and establishing contracts between leaders and participants (Heath et al., 2012). These social strategies have been explored in families, worksites, communities, clinical settings,and schools (Heath et al., 2012).

Many physical activity interventions incorporate some aspect of social support as part of the intervention whether it is involving family, friends, or being conducted with a group.In a review of 26 randomized control trials, 22 of those studies included some aspect of social support as part of the intervention (Howlett et al.,2019). On average, these interventions had a positive effect on physical activity behavior and on maintaining that behavior change following that intervention.In another review of interventions that included both diet and physical activity for those at risk of type 2 diabetes, the inclusion of social support was one of the strategies that improved the effectiveness of interventions (Greaves et al., 2011).

One way to facilitate social support is to incorporate it as part of physical activity groups. For example, one study targeted social support through a variety of interpersonal strategies, including small group discussions about physical activity-related ideas and sharing experiences about how to get support and overcome barriers (McMahon et al., 2017). This study also included friendly comparisons of physical activity based on activity monitors as part of its interpersonal strategies (McMahon et al., 2017). Those who received this added interpersonal interaction reported more physical activity (McMahon et al., 2017). As described earlier, a common type of intervention used in physical activity settings is the team-building approach (Burke et al., 2014; Spink & Carron, 1993). This approach involves enhancing the group dynamics through targeting the group distinctiveness, structure, norms, individual positions and sacrifices, as well as interaction and communication (Burke et al., 2014). With team-building, the goal is to develop group processes like cohesion with the intent to increase adherence and attendance. Another group-based intervention that has received quite a bit of attention is the group-mediated cognitive behavioral intervention (Brawley et al., 2014). This approach uses group-dynamic principles to build the group and teach cognitive-behavioral strategies such as goal setting, barrier management, and self-monitoring. The key distinction with this approach is that the individual is weaned off the group so that they can become independent exercisers at the end. The group-mediated cognitive-behavioral intervention has been examined with a variety of populations and settings including cardiac rehabilitation, older adults, individuals with knee osteoarthritis, and postnatal moms (Brawley et al., 2014). Across these numerous studies, positive effects were seen for the group-mediated cognitive-behavioral approach for adherence (i.e., increasing physical activity levels), improving self-efficacy, and physical functioning (Brawley et al., 2014). There is a wide variety of strategies for using social support from others or peers to promote physical activity and many of these approaches appear successful (Heath et al., 2012). Some of these strategies may be promoting interactions through physical activity groups, buddy systems, group discussions, and phone networks (Heath et al., 2012).

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