Background/Purpose: People who increase their physical activity (PA) (e.g., in an intervention) typically return to a less active lifestyle within 3-6 months. Yet, the health benefits of a more active lifestyle require lasting behavior change. In people with osteoarthritis (PWOA), increasing PA can reduce chronic joint pain. The present study examined social support for PA from a committed romantic partner as a facilitator of lasting PA change. We sought to clarify types of partner support associated with short- and long-term PA increases in insufficiently active PWOA.

Methods: Participants included people with hip/knee OA who self-reported <120 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) per week and their partner (N=116 couples). Couples attended a group class on OA, PA, and working together to help PWOA become more active. After class they were instructed to complete the Active Living Everyday Workbook (12 chapters, 1 per week) and to read a study booklet on social support for PA. Partners could try to increase their PA, but that was not a focus of the study. Participants independently completed a pre-class baseline assessment and follow-up assessments at 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-class. At each assessment, they wore an accelerometer and completed questionnaires, including 2 validated measures of partner support for PA. Partners reported support they provided to their PWOA, and PWOAs reported support they received from their partner. PWOAs’ accelerometer-assessed MVPA at each assessment was categorized as: 0=minimal (<45 min/week), 1=insufficient (45 to <60 min/week), 2=borderline (60 to <150 min/week), or 3=exceeding recommendations (≥150 min/week).

Results: Factor analysis of our data suggested 2 main ways partners could support PA: (1) enacted informational, instrumental, and emotional support for PA (general support) and (2) doing PA with the PWOA (collaborative support). We conducted ordinal logistic regressions predicting PWOAs’ level of MVPA at 3-, 6-, and 12-months, adjusting for their baseline MVPA and demographic and medical characteristics. Support variables evaluated in the models included PWOA-reported general and collaborative support received and partner-reported general and collaborative support provided. In models predicting MVPA at all assessments, PWOAs’ baseline MVPA significantly predicted their MVPA at follow-up assessments (p’s <.001). At 3 months, there were no associations between the support variables and PWOAs’ level of MVPA. PWOAs with a higher level of MVPA at 6 months had partners who reported providing more collaborative support at baseline (p=.04). PWOAs with a higher level of MVPA at 12 months reported receiving greater general partner support for PA at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups (p’s=.03-.04) and they tended to have more partner-reported collaborative support for PA at baseline and at the 12-month follow-up (p’s .07-.09).

Conclusion: Findings suggest that partner support for PA may play a more critical role in maintenance than in initiation of PA over the course of a year, especially with respect to PWOAs’ reports that partners had recently provided them with general support for PA. We will discuss implications for interventions.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/dyadic-study-of-partner-social-support-for-physical-activity-and-its-role-in-the-initiation-and-maintenance-of-increased-physical-activity-among-insufficiently-active-people-with-hip-knee-osteoarthrit/