Social Support, Companionship, And Movement Breaks: Findings From A Large-scale Pragmatic Trial

Physical activity (PA) is an important determinant of health and daily movement breaks can improve health outcomes, psychological wellbeing, and reduce the risk of chronic conditions and cognitive decline. Implementing movement breaks can be challenging, but social connectedness (i.e., support and companionship) may serve as an important facilitator for movement breaks and PA. PURPOSE: To determine the roles of social support and companionship as facilitators of movement break protocol adherence. METHODS: 8,746 adults enrolled in a remote pragmatic trial at Columbia University Medical Center via a National Public Radio series. Participants completed 1 of 3 movement break doses (5 minutes of walking every 30, 60, or 120 minutes) for 2 weeks after 1-week of baseline monitoring. Daily questionnaires assessed number of breaks taken, barriers and facilitators including social support (receiving encouragement) and companionship (someone to take breaks with). Both constructs were expressed as the percentage of intervention days (0-100%) with support and/or companionship reported as facilitators. Movement breaks were expressed as the mean number of breaks reported daily and compliance as 16, 8, or 4 breaks a day for the 30-, 60-, and 120-minute conditions respectively. RESULTS: There was a significant association between movement breaks and reporting of social support (p-trend <0.001) or companionship (p-trend <0.001) as facilitators. Movement breaks per day (Figure Panel A) and intervention compliance (Figure Panel B) were significantly higher for participants who reported social support and/or companionship. CONCLUSIONS: Support and companionship were positively associated with compliance to the PA break protocol, suggesting that receiving encouragement and taking breaks with others may increase frequency of engagement in PA. Given the benefits of PA, social connectedness may be an important facilitator to consider when developing PA interventions.