Brandon Chan
Brandon Chan is a senior studying Exercise Science, with a minor in Spanish. Brandon is pursuing an undergraduate honors degree in the School of Public Health and has been working in research under the direction of Dr. Lesa Huber and Dr. Jeanne Johnston. Aside from his academic work, Brandon is on the executive board of Tau Sigma which is the national honor society for transfer students. After graduating in May, Brandon plans on continuing his education at the University of Dayton to pursue a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.
Physical Activity Trackers and Monitoring Improve Attitudes Toward Dog Walking
Brandon Chan, Jimmy McDonnell, Susan Middlestadt, Beate Henschel, Wasantha Jayawardene, Lesa Huber, Jeanne Johnston
Purpose: Dog walking may have the potential for increasing physical activity for dog owners. Activity trackers may help improve dog walking behavior. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, we investigated what factors are most likely to influence the intention to walk the dog.
Methods: A convenience sample (N=50, age 25 – 64) was randomized into four treatment groups (canine+human tracker, canine-only tracker, human-only tracker, control group with no tracker). All completed a pre-post behavioral survey ten weeks apart and a demographic survey. Separate linear mixed models were used to examine the pre/post relationship between the treatment group and the three TPB global constructs (attitude, norms, perceived behavioral control) and intention to walk the dog, accounting for clustering within-subject due to repeated measures.
Results: Attitudes showed a significant difference between pre and post-scores (p<0.001 overall) but were not significantly different by treatment (p=0.824). There were no significant differences over time or between groups on norms, perceived behavioral control, or intention to walk the dog. Of the three demographic variables adjusted for in the analysis (age, gender, and housing type), age was significantly associated with perceived behavioral control (p=0.022) and marginally significant with intentions (p=0.072).
Conclusions: Attitudes improved after the intervention across all groups. Those with canine/human and human-only trackers improved slightly in their intentions to walk their dogs. While there were no significant differences between groups, the present study suggests that monitoring, with or without trackers, can help humans increase physical activity and enjoy time spent walking with their dogs.
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