To examine the effects of short messaging service (SMS) frequency and timing on the efficacy of an SMS-intervention for Hong Kong Chinese adolescents, sixty nine students aged between 12 and 16 (mean age 13.75 ± 0.90) were recruited from five schools in Hong Kong. Participants were randomly assigned into one of five groups: high-frequency + self-selected timing (HST), low-frequency + self-selected timing (LST), high-frequency + assigned timing (HAT), low-frequency + assigned timing (LAT) and the control group. The total duration of the intervention was four weeks. No significant intervention effects were detected in adolescent’s PA among the five groups (F = 1.14, p = 0.346). No significant differences were observed in the stage movement among the five groups (χ2 = 6.18, p = 0.627). No significant differences appeared in the exercise benefits, barriers and benefits/barriers differential scores. However, a growth trend in the exercise benefits score in the LST and HAT groups was found in contrast to the downswing in the control group. The exercise barriers score in the HST group showed the largest reduction after intervention. The benefits/barriers differential score in all the intervention groups increased, whereas it decreased in the control group. Although an increase is demonstrated in the high dosage SMS frequency and timing, no significant intervention effects were found among the five groups in PA behavior, stage of change and exercise benefits and barriers among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.

High-quality training environments are essential for athletic peak performance. However, recent research highlighted that athletes' personality characteristics could undermine effective training.The current set of studies aimed to examine whether specific transformational leadership characteristics displayed by the coach would moderate the potential negative impacts of two personality traits (i.e., extraversion and neuroticism) on training behaviours. In study 1, ninetynine university athletes completed questionnaires assessing personality, transformational leadership, and training behaviours. In study 2, eighty-four high-level athletes completed the same personality and transformational leadership questionnaires. However, in study 2 the head coaches assessed athletes' training behaviours. Both studies showed that coach high-performance expectations moderated the extraversion-distractibility relationship. Further, both studies also demonstrated that the relationship between neuroticism and coping with adversity was moderated by coach's inspirational motivation. Our findings highlight that extraversion and neuroticism can negatively relate to training behaviours, but such effects can be moderated by certain transformational leadership behaviours.The ultimate goal of any competitive athlete is to strive for peak performance in competitive environments (Cohn, 2009). Research has shown that most elite athletes either train for at least ten years or accumulate at least 4,000 actual practising hours to achieve their desired level of expertise (Rees et al., 2016). Despite the essential time in building expertise, the quantity of training itself cannot distinguish world-leading serial medalling athletes from their less successful (non-medalling) counterparts (Hardy et al., 2017). However, recent research has shown self-regulated training behaviours have direct positive impacts on coach ratings of mentally tough behaviour (Beattie, Alqallaf, Hardy, & Ntoumanis, 2018) that benefit elite performance (Bell, Hardy, & Beattie, 2013). Therefore, it is even more important that the quality rather than the quantity of training in the preparation for peak performance states are examined. Recently, Woodman, Zourbanos, Hardy, Beattie, and McQuillan, (2010) developed the Quality of Training Inventory (QTI) to assess how well athletes train in their own environment. Woodman et al. developed their inventory on three essential training behaviours of distractibility .Further, Woodman and colleagues hypothesised that certain personality traits displayed by the athlete might be incongruent to training environments. However, these relationships may be mitigated if the athlete had a set of well-developed psychological strategies. That is, Woodman et al. found that athletes who had high levels of emotional stability coped better with adversity only when emotional control was high (study 1). Further, high levels of extraversion were related to higher levels of distractibility, but this relationship was mitigated when athletes engaged with high ...

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Self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment have been recognized as important psychological correlates of children's physical activity (PA). However, research investigating the psychological process underpinning self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment has generated "contradictory" findings -with some regarding self-efficacy as an antecedent of enjoyment while the others arguing for the reverse. To mitigate this confusion, we have embraced the largely overlooked distinction between task-and barrier-efficacy in PA research and have examined the proposal that task-efficacy enhances perceived enjoyment and, subsequently, increases barrier-efficacy and PA. In a sample of 331 eight-to-ten years old schoolchildren (169 boys), task-efficacy manifested an indirect effect on accelerometer-based measures of MVPA and total PA via perceived enjoyment and subsequently barrier-efficacy. Perceived enjoyment served as a mediator of task-efficacy on MVPA but not total PA. Barrier-efficacy appeared to be a consistent mediator underlying schoolchildren's PA regardless of PA intensity. The findings suggest that 1) the distinction between task-and barrier-efficacy warrants consideration in children's PA promotion and 2) the psychological drivers of more vigorous types of PA differ compared to lower intensity PA. Future research would do well to explore the key psychological factors underpinning less vigorous types of PA to inform the development of effective PA interventions for those who have difficulties engaging in MVPA.

Background: The current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is an emergency on a global scale, with huge swathes of the population required to remain indoors for prolonged periods to tackle the virus. In this new context, individuals' health-promoting routines are under greater strain, contributing to poorer mental and physical health. Additionally, individuals are required to keep up to date with latest health guidelines about the virus, which may be confusing in an age of social-media disinformation and shifting guidelines. To tackle these factors, we developed Elena+, a smartphone-based and conversational agent (CA) delivered pandemic lifestyle care intervention.Methods: Elena+ utilizes varied intervention components to deliver a psychoeducation-focused coaching program on the topics of: COVID-19 information, physical activity, mental health (anxiety, loneliness, mental resources), sleep and diet and nutrition. Over 43 subtopics, a CA guides individuals through content and tracks progress over time, such as changes in health outcome assessments per topic, alongside user-set behavioral intentions and user-reported actual behaviors. Ratings of the usage experience, social demographics and the user profile are also captured. Elena+ is available for public download on iOS and Android devices in English, European Spanish and Latin American Spanish with future languages and launch countries planned, and no limits on planned recruitment. Panel data methods will be used to track user progress over time in subsequent analyses. The Elena+ intervention is open-source under the Apache 2 license (MobileCoach software) and the Creative Commons 4.0 license CC BY-NC-SA (intervention logic and content), allowing future collaborations; such as cultural adaptions, integration of new sensor-related features or the development of new topics.Discussion: Digital health applications offer a low-cost and scalable route to meet challenges to public health. As Elena+ was developed by an international and interdisciplinary team in a short time frame to meet the COVID-19 pandemic, empirical data are required to discern how effective such solutions can be in meeting real world, emergent health crises. Additionally, clustering Elena+ users based on characteristics and usage behaviors could help public health practitioners understand how population-level digital health interventions can reach at-risk and sub-populations.