Research into the role of message framing and physical activity participation has thus far been inconclusive, with some studies finding gain-framed messages to be more persuasive (Jones, Sinclair & Courneya, 2003; Latimer, Rench, et al., 2008), while others found no difference between gain framed and loss frames messages (Jones et al., 2004; McCall & Ginis, 2004; van‟t Riet, Ruiter, Werrij & de Vries, 2009; Daffu-O'Reilly, A. K., O'Connor, D. B., & Lawton, R. J., 2017). The present study aimed to identify whether gain framed or loss framed messages are more persuasive in encouraging physical activity participation over a six week intervention, and was the first of its kind to use objective data. Autonomy was also investigated to identify whether this effected physical activity participation. Twenty participants were divided into two groups, either reading gain framed or loss framed messages. Each group read one message per week for six consecutive weeks, and wore an accelerometer at three time points. Physical activity data was compared between each group across the three time points, and results suggest that while the gain-framed group took part in slightly more activity at one time point, neither message was more convincing at encouraging regular physical activity participation, with neither group significantly increasing their activity across the six weeks. Autonomy was also not found to effect activity.
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