It’s research frenzy season! My inbox is buzzing with requests… Hmmm, someone should research whether the looming date of Valentine’s day is a catalyst for PhD students to distract themselves (or look for love!) by trying to recruit people to their studies, lol! Today’s non-Valentine’s post for Valentine’s Day is all about exercise environments.
What’s your experience of these spaces, and would you be able to talk to researcher Alannah Moore about them? I’ll let her explain further.
Research Study: How Exercise Environments Impact Higher-Weight Individuals’ attitudes towards physical activity
Are you a higher-weight individual who regularly exercises in a gym or fitness class? If so, please read on!
Hi, I am Alannah, a final-year Psychology student working with Dr Angela Meadows at the University of Essex.
For my dissertation, I am exploring how exercise environments shape the experiences of higher-weight individuals.
We’re looking for participants to share their thoughts on motivation and overall experiences while exercising. Prior literature often explored the relationship between weight stigma and the avoidance of exercise with inconsistent findings. We are taking a different approach and exploring how the exercise environment influences attitudes towards exercise. This is a topic I am passionate about, and I hope it can be beneficial to add to the limited amount of research into weight inclusive exercise spaces.
Who Can Participate?
People who:
- Identify as higher-weight (e.g. “plus-size”, “overweight”, or “fat”)
- Engage in formal exercise (gym, fitness class, etc.) at least once a week
Why Participate?
- Contribute to research that can improve exercise experiences for higher-weight individuals
- The study takes just 15 minutes to complete
- 100% online!
Click the link to take part: Study Link
Your participation will help us expand our knowledge of the kinds of physical activity environments that provide the greatest benefits to higher-weight exercisers. At the end of the study, we will provide you with some resources on positive exercise environments for higher-weight exercisers.
Is there any incentive offered to take part?
Sadly no, as this is a PhD study, there is no funding for payments or rewards for getting involved. Just immense gratification!
If you have had negative experiences in your exercise environment because of your weight, recalling these may be a little upsetting. However, you are welcome to skip any questions you don’t wish to answer or withdraw from the study.
I am happy to answer any questions! You can email me on am22713@essex.ac.uk
Thank you!