Motivating factors in walking and cycling – examples from the UK VI Active Mobility Congress Gdansk, April 10 th 2015 Veronica Reynolds Intelligent Health

Motivating your audience Who is your audience? What do they currently think, feel or do about this? What do to you want them to think, feel or do? What are the barriers and motivators for them doing what you want? What offer can you create to help achieve that goal? Who can help you engage your audience with your offer? What fits your busy schedule better, exercising ½ hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?”

Motivation has many variants! The 14 motivators of Personal Action – Drummond 2008

Social Norming Useful in amplifying behaviour Can be useful in maintaining behaviour change

Motivation ….. Habits European Journal of Social Psychology Volume 40, Issue 6, Volume 40, Issue 6, pages 998–1009, October 2010

Stage 5 - Maintenance Characteristics of Stage 5Helpful Strategies Maintaining a new behaviour e.g. walking children to school 3 x per week Develop coping strategies to avoid temptation to relapse. e.g. have wet weather clothing readily available Avoiding temptation to relapse e.g. avoid taking the car just because it is raining/cold Remember to reward success e.g. offer incentives at time when weather is getting worse!

Channels of communication School/workplace Intranet/Internet Direct Mail Face-to-face, e.g. stalls/events Traditional Media (newspapers/radio/TV?) Social Media –Facebook –Twitter –Local social media?

Beat the Street turns a whole area into a real life walking and cycling game For the whole community: – encourage sustainable travel – decrease health inequalities – increase physical activity levels – increase community cohesion Beat the Street works: Reading 2014, 15,074 adults and children played, 18% increase in people meeting the government guidelines for physical activity on 5 or more days per week.

Beat the Street Principles Whole population approach ‘Nudge’ theory/gamefication Equitable Based around everyday activity/active travel Creating habits, capitalising on ‘social norms’ Whole population approach ‘Nudge’ theory/gamefication Equitable Based around everyday activity/active travel Creating habits, capitalising on ‘social norms’

Beat the Street Reading beat boxes 1.Boxes 0.5 km apart 2.Join a team : school, community group, workplace 3.Walk/Cycle/Run, tap, get points 4.Tap two boxes within 1 hour to get 10 points 5.Points go to team total 6.Top teams win cash prizes for school/community group/charity

Overall target for the community Round the world 25,000 or ‘Race for space’ 200,000 km

Follow progress online

Changes in physical activity

Number of days people used walking as a main mode of transport in past week

Motivations for taking part in Beat the Street

Gdansk October schools and their communities Bitwa na Kilometry!

Incentives/rewards Messages – targeted and personalised (know your audience and their stage of change) Competition – leader boards, league tables Feedback – e.g. via apps ‘Well done!’ messages, beep/flash/image Extrinsic – prizes, money for charity

Summary Having fun and raising money for charity are greatest incentives. Give participants OWNERSHIP! Pre-empt lapses with upbeat messages Personalised/tailored feedback and incentives Peer support and recognition Incentives don’t need to be expensive

Thank you!