Partner support in couples-focused physical activity interventions as a complex, skill-based behaviour affecting behaviour change

Abstract

Background: Physical activity reduces osteoarthritis symptoms, but most people with osteoarthritis (PWOA) are insufficiently active. Although receiving social support for physical activity from a partner reliably predicts increases in physical activity, couples-focused physical activity interventions produce only modest, short-lived behavior change. We propose that this is because giving and getting this support is a complex, skill-based behavior that not all couples enact effectively, and that ineffective partner support can hinder behavior change. The present study investigated the role of emotion regulation skills in this process. Method: Ongoing longitudinal study for couples in which one person is an insufficiently active PWOA. All couples completed baseline measures (including measures of support-related emotion regulation skills—attention to feelings, mood clarity, and mood repair), a couple-focused physical activity intervention, and a 3-month follow-up. Findings: PWOA reported receiving more partner support for physical activity when they self-reported being better at repairing their own negative moods (e.g., through positive thinking), p=.01. Partners reported providing more support for physical activity when they self-reported being better at paying attention to their own feelings, p=.03, and when they were partnered with PWOAs who self-reported better mood repair, p=.01. However, getting more partner support only predicted accelerometer-measured increases in PWOA’s moderate to vigorous activity when PWOA’s appraised their partner’s support as more effective—a better match to their needs (interaction p=.02). Conclusion: Our findings highlight a potential causal pathway through which couples’ support-related emotion regulation skills influence their ability to work together well enough to benefit from a couples-based physical activity intervention.