IRS 2018 Mov2Health

Statistics from the World Health Organization show that less than half of French people aged 15 to 75 engage in health-promoting physical activity. In France, despite public awareness campaigns, community-based initiatives, and recommendations from the medical community—particularly regarding chronic diseases—physical activity levels remain largely insufficient.

It therefore appears that identifying the motivational dynamics that drive and sustain engagement in physical activity is a major challenge. This project will complement the work conducted by the National Observatory on Physical Activity and Sedentary Lifestyles with an original approach. It is characterized by the implementation of a holistic model centered on the dynamics of individuals’ interactions with and within their economic, social, and cultural environments . It is based on the following central hypothesis: sustainable behavioral changes do not result solely from changes in perceptions but rather from a complex process of motivational evolution facilitated by sustained interactions with a supportive environment. Understanding this complex process justifies bringing together academic and field-based resources and actors who are typically working in isolation: complementary contributions from management science (motivational and behavioral studies), communication science (analysis of interactional and communicational dynamics), and public health (monitoring systems for patients and at-risk individuals). It also justifies examining the role of new, potentially facilitating actors: patient resources, trained by the University of Patients in therapeutic education, nonviolent communication, active listening, etc., as well as in their specific conditions. The University of Patients in Grenoble (UDPG), founded in 2014, has thus trained nearly 50 patient resources.

The goal of this project is to identify and test strategies for sustainably increasing physical activity levels to prevent disease risks among the at-risk population of smokers and to improve the well-being of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). By reversing the current top-down communication model (from public health authorities to individuals, from healthcare providers to patients, from experts to laypeople, etc.), the project examines how horizontal communication networks (family members, friends, patients, organizations, etc.) can serve as sources of lasting behavioral change. This project therefore aims to identify the factors that foster a relational dynamic conducive to commitment to and regular participation in physical activity.