Dog-Walking Motivation Paper

In the article, “Dog-walking: Motivation for adherence to a walking program,” by Johnson and Meadows (2010), the purpose of this study was to determine to what extent participating in a dog-walking program would be associated with adherence to a change in physical activity and weight loss, with improved body mass index (BMI). This study is a longitudinal, one-group, pre-post, quasi-experimental design that was done in the Midwest. It was held in two public housing facilities, in which there was a comparison of two different program lengths of 26 and 50 weeks long. 26 adults over the age of forty years old were utilized, and were required to be socioeconomically disadvantaged in order to participate. This was evidenced by qualifying for and residing in subsidized housing. This population was used because economically disadvantaged citizens have a higher prevalence of obesity. …show more content…
When we look at the length of the program along with weight loss, it makes sense. The longer program of 50 weeks lost more weight than the shorter program did. It is surprising that the longer program had a higher adherence rate. When assessing the validity of this research, we are looking at if the article measures what it initially intended to. The purpose of this research was to analyze the adherence to this program with a change in physical activity, along with weight loss and an improved BMI. The adherence rate is analyzed during this program, but it also would be important to analyze the adherence rate after the program as well. We want to see if people will continue the physical activity. Weight loss and an improved BMI were both positive outcomes of this research program. The context of the study was sufficient enough to enhance its capacity for external validity. Since socioeconomic status is a predictor of disease and disability, this is the population that was chosen for this