New research shows that few people are motivated by an end reward or health benefits. Instead, most people are motivated by socialising with others and supporting others.
This suggests that promoting incentives or health benefits may not be the most effective way to promote initiatives to a large proportion of people. Instead, communications should be centred around what people value (i.e., being with their friends, doing what they enjoy and supporting those they care about).
“My little girl and her friends gave me the motivation to take part in this activity.”–Female, Aged between 30–39.
The findings presented in this study provide novel insight into the factors that motivate people into community level physical activity initiatives. At a broad level, this research suggests that initiatives which seek to engage communities in physical activity should focus on encouraging social participation. That is, enabling different groups (i.e., older versus younger), family units, and colleagues, to take part in an activity together and with the same rules, rituals, or expectations.
Physical activity programmes could reach substantial portions of a given community by utilising schools as a fundamental community asset. Many people living in a community are often closely connected to a local school, and schools can be an effective method of communication to many people in the community. As such, schools are uniquely placed to publicise and stimulate interest in community wide initiatives.
“I really feel confident for my school and hope they will win.” – Female, aged under 12.
“I want to help motivate our school children by showing that healthy activity is something everyone can and should participate in.” – Male, Aged between 30–39.
The findings in this study also imply that whilst incentives (i.e., winning prizes) and achieving health benefits, are important for some people (23% of participants studied here), a substantial proportion of residents may not be enticed into initiatives for these reasons. Thus, the ‘health by stealth’ approach, whereby people achieve health benefits more subconsciously through activities where health is scarcely mentioned, may be more effective at engaging large proportions of a community into interventions.
“Joining in on something that the whole community can get involved in and to try & be more active”– Female, Aged between 60–69.
At a microlevel, these assumptions will shift. This research found the importance of each motivation remained stable when data were segmented by different demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, disability, or pre-existing levels of physical activity). However, certain groups were motivated to a greater degree by specific reasons. Children, for instance, were motivated more by incentives than players overall, and were less motivated by social or family reasons, and those who lived is less affluent areas were motivated more by social and family reasons and less by incentives (i.e., winning prizes) than players overall. This suggests initiatives need to be tailored to meet the needs and expectations of different groups within a community.
This research also suggests that promoting health or fitness may not be the most effective way to promote physical activity interventions to a large proportion of people. Instead, ‘stealth marketing’, whereby ‘undercover’ methods of promoting physical activity are used, may be more effective at motivating people to perceive physical activity as fun and rewarding, rather than an additional burden.
“It gives you a sense of purpose and I like a challenge”–Female, aged between 70–79.
Across 7 areas in England 1,526 people completed a survey prior to taking part in a community-wide programme. This survey included their demographic characteristics (who they were and where they lived), how active they were, and why they were taking part in the programme. Qualitative data was obtained through asking people why they were taking part in the programme and these were used to identify the motivations of different people. These motivations were segmented by their demographic characteristics and physical activity levels.
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