Project Overview
This research project was one of five subprojects in the interdisciplinary Individual Response to Physical Activity (iReAct) study, in which responses to physical activity (PA) were assessed in young, healthy, inactive adults. At the baseline measure of this 15-week two-period sequential intervention study, we conducted biographical mapping interviews to explore how physically inactive young adults subjectively reconstruct PA- and health-related experiences and what meaning they attribute to life events and transitions in this regard.
Life events and transitions have been shown to have a potential impact on PA, sport, and exercise behaviors in both positive and negative ways across the life span. Yet, only few studies have employed qualitative approaches and provide actual explanations as to how – and especially why – life events and transitions affect those behaviors. In this regard, the aim of this study is to answer the following research question: What are the underlying dynamics associated with critical life events and transitions leading to changes in daily PA and sport and exercise behavior?
Considering that critical life events, transitions, PA, and exercise are subjective experiences, the research of this sub-project falls within an interpretivist paradigm and is underpinned by ontological relativism, assuming that reality is multiple, individually constructed, and, thus, mind-dependent.
Data Collection Overview
The research team attempted to recruit thirty men and thirty women, aged 20–40. Further inclusion criteria used were:
- Non-smokers
- BMI between 18,5 and 30,0 kg/m2
- Currently not meeting WHO-recommendations for moderate physical activity (less than 150 min/week)
- Less than 60 min/week of exercise during leisure time (including sports participation, endurance-oriented activities, muscle strengthening) and no regular exercise for several weeks during the last six months
- Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) between 25 and 50 ml/min/kg
- No current or former eating disorder or obesity
- No severe physiological or neurological previous illness
- Not pregnant or breastfeeding
- Using German as a native language
Reasons for exclusion were:
- Chronic diseases or findings that results in a decreased ability to participate in a physical activity intervention
- Medication or supplement intake within the last 4 weeks, which according to the physicians might interfere with the study results (exception: contraceptives)
- Counter indication(s) for local anesthetics
- Clinically relevant deviations in the lab results
- Pathological indications in the resting-ECG
- Vein conditions that do not allow for multiple blood sampling
- Participation in a medication study within the last three months
- Drug use, alcohol abuse
- Current psychotherapy
Participants were primarily recruited via the researcher university’s mailing list and the university clinic’s mailing list. Additionally, postings on the MPI Experimental Database, advertisements, newspaper articles, and online presence on the homepage of the institute of sports science are employed to raise awareness for the study. Interested parties are provided with detailed information on the study protocol and are asked to fill in a physical activity questionnaire (European Health Interview Survey – Physical Activity Questionnaire (EHIS-PAQ)) in order to assess current physical activity levels. Furthermore, an additional telephone screening to check eligibility criteria is done. Finally, a medical examination took place prior to final enrollment in the study. As a part of this examination, interested parties were once again informed about the study protocol and requirements, and a written informed consent is obtained.
Data collection took place at the Institute of Sports Science, the Department of Sports Medicine and the Max Planck Institute [LOCATION]. The participants were enrolled at the Department of Sports Medicine of the University Clinic [LOCATION] by physicians and trained personnel. The data were entered by the members of the research team. All collected data were de-identified and stored on a safe database at the University of [LOCATION].
While initially it was planned to recruit 60 participants, the lockdowns imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to conclude the recruitment process as well as the study earlier than intended. The final sample for the study therefore consisted of 46 inactive participants aged between 20 and 40 years. Thirty-three of the participants were women. All participants gave informed consent to participate in all study modules of the iReAct study and to have their interviews audiotaped. Detailed information on the inclusion and exclusion criteria can be found in the published study protocol. Data collection was conducted between 22.03.2018 and 13.03.2020.
For the interviews, we used the biographical mapping method, which is a mixed-method approach that combines a semi-structured interview with a drawing activity and that allows to explore people’s subjective experiences of PA, exercise, and health across the life span. During the interview, participants were asked to fill in a two-dimensional grid together with the interviewer. The horizontal grid line was customized and represented the respective participant’s life span in years. The vertical line represented an intensity scale from zero to ten and allowed participants to draw behavior- and state-related trajectories and to rate those experiences at different times of their life. Participants were first asked to think about subjectively relevant life events and transition they could remember. These events and transitions were written down on the x-axis by the interviewer. Secondly, participants plotted different developmental lines relating for example the subjective amount of daily PA and the subjective amount, relevance, enjoyment, and temporal resources for exercise and sport behavior across the life span. In this step, participants were asked to refer to the life events and transition and think aloud and comment on the curve trajectories.
The interviews lasted between 55 and 116 minutes. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, de-identified, and imported into MAXQDA. To explore the patterns of shared underlying dynamics associated with critical life events and transitions leading to changes in daily PA and sport and exercise behavior as well as related attitudes, we carried out a reflexive thematic analysis that focused on participants’ subjective experiences.
Shared Data Selection and Organization
The full transcripts and the biographical maps for this project cannot be shared publicly because such a release has not received explicit ethical approval or participant consent. Instead, the deposit data consist of 46 files with selected redacted excerpts of verbatim quotes associated with the development of the themes in this study. Each participant was given a pseudonym in the files. Additionally, the deposit documentation consists of the consent form, the data privacy declaration, the information sheet and the interview guide used for the study.
