Abstract
Despite policy and messaging efforts at both national and local levels, physical inactivity continues to be a public health issue. Surprisingly there is little work examining the impact of the terminology used in these messages. This two-phase, mixed methods study explored the understanding of the terms physical-activity and exercise and how these terms may influence social-cognitions and efforts related to behavior change. In Phase one 184 adults were randomly assigned to complete an online questionnaire measuring social-cognitions and understanding related to either the term physical-activity (n=90) or exercise (n=94). In Phase two interview responses from three experts regarding their interpretation of the two terms, and how this influenced promotional efforts were reviewed for areas of consensus. MANCOVA revealed no overall effect of terminology on social-cognitions (p=.12). Thematic analysis of participants’ definitions of physical-activity and exercise also reflected a lack of differentiation between the terms, and only 31% of respondents felt the two behaviours were different. There was clear consensus among the experts that exercise represented a subset of physical-activity, and that physical-activity was the preferred term due to its inclusiveness. However, there was a strong sense that interventions were having little impact. This initial research suggests that the public does not clearly understand the difference between physical-activity and exercise, presenting us with two possible implications: that the choice of terminology may not be crucial or that educating the public about the differences between these behaviors may be important, particularly within populations who may benefit more from exercise than physical-activity alone.
