Effect of certified personal trainer services on stage of exercise behavior and exercise mediators in female college students

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the effect of certified personal trainer services on exercise behavior by using the transtheoretical model of behavioral change. PARTICIPANTS: Female college students (n = 449) completed surveys during the first week (T1) and last week (T2) of the fall semester. METHODS: Students receiving personal trainer services during the fall semester (experimental group, n = 31) were cross-matched with students who had not received services (control group, n = 31). RESULTS: The control group demonstrated a statistically significant regression in stage of exercise change scores; the experimental group did not. The authors found the 2 groups to have a statistically significant difference in the pattern of exercise behavior change over the course of the semester, with more active maintainers and progressors in the experimental group. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive and behavioral processes of change, decisional balance, and scheduling self-efficacy significantly decreased in the control group, whereas cognitive processes of change, decisional balance, and scheduling self-efficacy remained statistically unchanged in the experimental group.