Effects of minimal group promotion on cohesion and exercise adherence

A large fitness center was used to test a brief group warm-up/cool-down program's effect on perceptions of cohesion, exercise attendance, and dropout. Healthy adult participants were randomly assigned to ct control or treatment condition. Treatment participants differed from controls in that art exercise professional led them in small groups for 5 to 7 minutes, both before and after they completed assigned workout programs, in a separate room Results indicated a significant vise in the Attraction to Group-Task (ATG-T) subscale of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) over the first 5 weeks of the investigation, for the treatment group only Results also demonstrated higher attendance and less dropout in the treatment group. A significant positive relationship between attendance and the treatment group participants' change in ATG-T over 5 weeks was found. The practicality of providing cohesion-promoting interventions is discussed and the need to replicate this research in differing exercise settings is emphasized.