Abstract
Although physical activity (PA) is a proven arthritis-management strategy, many individuals with arthritis are inactive. Motivating the inactive requires an understanding of whether social cognitions linked to PA differ between active and inactive individuals. According to social cognitive theory, individuals’ negative outcome expectations (OE-likelihood; OE-distress) about the impact of PA on their arthritis may differ (e.g., PA causes joint stiffness). However, PA-negative OE research is limited as the focus tends to be on positive OEs. Further, individuals who are active at differing levels also differ in arthritis pain acceptance (i.e., willingness to engage in valued activities). To date, pain acceptance differences between the active and inactive have not been investigated. Our purpose was to examine whether adults with medically-diagnosed arthritis (Mage=49.91 years) who were active (n=156) or inactive (n=97) differed in negative disease-related OEs (OE-likelihood; OE-distress) and pain acceptance. A between groups MANCOVA controlling for body mass index and arthritis pain was significant (p<.01). Follow-up ANOVAs revealed that actives reported significantly less negative OE-likelihood (partial eta squared=.08), less OE-distress (partial eta squared=.13), and more pain acceptance (partial eta squared=.06) versus their inactive counterparts (p’s<.01). Findings support theory and are the first to illustrate that disease- and activity-related social cognitions differ among active and inactive adults with arthritis. Continued investigation of differences may lead to knowing which social cognitions should be targeted for motivational improvement among the inactive, and whether tailoring of improvement strategies would vary as a function of pain acceptance. Funding: CIHR; Saskatchewan Health Research FoundationAcknowledgments: CIHR;Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation