Just as muscle builds through periods of failure and recovery, during attitudinal inoculation, an attitude (or a belief, behavior, or’ some other related construct) becomes stronger during periods of challenge and recovery.
Josh Compton & Bobi Ivanov
We see great promise with extending inoculation to sport, exercise, and physical activity. For one thing, there is a need in the scholarship. Efforts to promote engagement in physical activity are many; efforts to promote maintained engagement in physical activity that draw from novel paradigms are fewer. Scholars have called for more theory-based messaging to encourage more positive health attitudes and behaviors. We see great practical value, too. Physical activity has myriad benefits for physical and mental health. Maintaining a regular exercise regime has particular importance for those recovering from health setbacks such as cardiac rehabilitation, where exercise has been shown to enhance quality of life for patients, and other health challenges such as pregnancy, which causes some women to not meet the recommended levels of physical activity. Exercise also helps with anxiety disorders. We need, then, better ways of strengthening the robustness of positive attitudes toward (and other beliefs/states relating to) physical activity, sport, and exercise, and we think that inoculation theory offers such ways. In this chapter, we begin with a basic overview of inoculation theory before turning to proposed applications and theoretical development opportunities in the contexts of physical activity, sport, and exercise.
Compton, J., & Ivanov, B. (2018). Inoculation messaging. In B. Jackson, J. Dimmock, & J. Compton (Eds.), Persuasion and communication in sport, exercise, and physical activity. (pp. 73-90). Abington, UK: Routledge.
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