Dyadic planning as a complementary process to individual planning: Physical activity in daily diaries of persons with pre-obesity or obesity.

On days with no planning, participants reported being less physically active than on days with individual planning only.

• Study used an intensive-longitudinal design with 8-day daily diaries.
• Sample consisted of 127 persons with pre-obesity or obesity who consulted an outpatient endocrinology clinic.
• Multilevel models were used to explain daily self-reported physical activity.
• The no-planning condition was compared against the reference category of individual planning only.
• No significant planning-PA associations emerged at the between-person level.

Participants were more physically active than usual when they planned both individually and dyadically compared to planning individually only.

• Four planning categories were created: no planning; dyadic planning only; both individual and dyadic planning; and individual planning only (reference category).
• The combined individual and dyadic planning condition showed greater PA than individual planning alone at the within-person (daily) level.
• This finding is described as consistent with 'scant previous research' on dyadic planning as a complementary strategy.
• The effect was observed as a same-day predictor in multilevel models.

Dyadic planning only did not emerge as a unique predictor of daily physical activity.

• When dyadic planning occurred without individual planning, it did not significantly predict PA compared to individual planning only (the reference category).
• This suggests dyadic planning functions as complementary to, rather than a replacement for, individual planning.
• The finding applied at the within-person (daily) level of analysis.
• No significant between-person level associations were found for any planning category.

The study examined physical activity planning in persons with pre-obesity or obesity seeking outpatient treatment for intended weight loss.

• Participants were recruited from an outpatient endocrinology clinic.
• Total sample size was 127 participants.
• The study used an 8-day daily diary intensive-longitudinal design.
• This was a secondary analysis using multilevel models.
• The study was correlational in design.

The authors concluded that including planning partners in physical activity promotion for individuals with pre-obesity and obesity may be promising.

• Findings indicate dyadic planning is mainly a complementary strategy to individual planning.
• The authors suggest that interpersonal regulatory efforts contribute to the success of individual planning techniques.
• The target population was individuals with pre-obesity and obesity intending weight loss.
• Individual planning techniques are described as 'frequent intervention components in physical activity promotion.'