Perceptions Of Personalized Readiness-to-exercise Profiles Determined Using 21-day Ecological Momentary Assessment Data

Readiness-to-exercise is a multidimensional concept (e.g., physical, psychological, motivational states) when regularly monitored has potential in guiding person-specific adjustments on a session-by-session basis. Research demonstrated between-person differences regarding which dimension is mathematically most important, but further insight on social validity of personalized readiness profiles is needed. PURPOSE: Explore individuals' perceptions and utility of their person-specific readiness profile. METHODS: Thirteen individuals underwent 21 days of ecological momentary assessment (4 surveys per day). Participants provided “right now” ratings from constructs determined to influence readiness to exercise. Eleven participants (64% F, 32 ± 7y, Race = 100% White, 9 ± 6 years training experience) completed at least the minimum number of surveys (50/84; 73 ± 9) to construct a profile and participate in a qualitative interview. Readiness profiles were constructed utilizing P-technique factor analysis and presented to gauge initial perceptions during a one-on-one, semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Three themes emerged. Accuracy encompassed mixed perceptions of relevance (“description of my personality”, “kinda accurate”). Facilitators of Skepticism was comprised of two subthemes: ‘atypical circumstances’ (“spent a week [of the assessment period] in the hospital, heavily medicated”), ‘interaction between perceptions and data feedback’ (“[if] that machine says I’m feeling like [expletive] like I am going to feel like [expletive]. I don’t want to know that”). Resilience Overruling Readiness emerged as participants noted the importance of recognizing readiness but overcoming unfavorable states (“overcoming the mental side of things”, “value in not wanting to do this, but I have to if I want to get stronger”). CONCLUSION: While profiling readiness based on time-series data offers insight into individualized mathematical importance within multi-dimensional data, the results demonstrate mixed perceptions towards relevance and utility of this information. To refine the operationalization of readiness-to-exercise, further research is needed to understand both the social and criterion validity of mathematically-determined profiles.