NCT03139643

Assessment of the Predictors and Moderators of Behavior Change

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 230 (actual)
• Sponsor: Boston University Charles River Campus · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The current study aims to investigate two potential interventions (i.e., cognitive dissonance and action planning) for inducing behavior change for behaviors important to college students-studying and exercise. In addition, this study will investigate factors that may impact behavior change, such as psychological and neuropsychological variables, to better understand how to bridge the intention-behavior gap.

Conditions

• Exercise

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Cognitive Dissonance	After reading the materials about their chosen behavior, participants will be asked write an essay about their behavior of choice (studying/exercising). For this essay they will be asked to imagine that they have reached their ideal level of academic achievement/fitness, describe what this would look and feel like, and reflect on how this would impact how they view themselves, their relationships, and their day to day life.
OTHER	Action Planning	After reading the materials about their chosen behavior, participants will be asked to make a detailed plan for the following two weeks based on the following items taken from a study by Sniehotta and colleagues (2004): 1) when to complete studying/exercise, 2) where to complete studying/exercise, 3) how to complete studying/exercise (e.g., what types of exercise- cardio, class, etc. or what types of studying activities- reading, taking notes, creating outlines, etc.), and 4) how often to complete studying/exercise. Participants will be given a calendar as an aid to planning their behavior.
OTHER	Reflection (Control Condition)	After reading the materials about their chosen behavior, participants will be asked to summarize and reflect on what they read.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-06-01
• Primary completion: 2016-12-01
• Completion: 2017-06-01
• First posted: 2017-05-04
• Last updated: 2018-05-29