Individual Fitness: Creating a Tailored Fitness Message Assessment for Women Ages 25-70

Kelly Vandersluis Morgan

Advisor: Gary L. Kreps, PhD, Department of Communication

Committee Members: Xiaoquan Zhao, Priya Nambisan

April 12, 2013, 02:00 PM to 11:00 AM

Abstract:

This exploratory research informed the development and refinement of a tailored fitness message assessment system for females ages 25-70 that increases the likelihood of central processing for healthy attitudes and belief change toward fitness through engaging, salient, and actionable messages.  Persuasion theory, the health belief model, e-health research, principles of tailored messaging, fitness media message research, and an online survey of the study population form the basis of this assessment and its messages.  This research, and the resulting fitness message assessment system, the FMA, present evidence of the viability of a tailored fitness message assessment.  This assessment and its messages were based in persuasion theory, the health belief model, e-health research, principles of tailored messaging, and fitness media message research.  Though the research was inconclusive regarding whether tailored messages lead to better outcomes than targeted messages, this study did find that engaging, actionable, and salient fitness messages have a positive reception in the 25-70 year old female population.