Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although most people are aware of the advantages of physical exercise, they have failed to commit to it. This forms justification for this intervention.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, the effect of special cognitive-behavioral intervention on commitment to exercise and mental health in adults was investigated by controlling the role of the commitment-to-exercise variable.

METHODS: The statistical population for this study comprised 635 employees with over 10 years’ professional experience: 235 were selected from amongst these. Thereafter, 80 employees were randomly assigned to two groups—experimental and control—of 40 each. The experimental group was trained for four months in fourteen sessions for using cognitive-behavioral therapy. To collect data, a commitment-to-exercise and mental health questionnaire was used.

RESULTS: When the effect of the pretest variable on the dependent variable was adjusted, it was observed that there is a significant difference (p < 0.01) between the means of the scores for commitment and mental health. The covariance test revealed that the difference in the mental health of the experimental and control groups after controlling the effects of commitment to exercise was not significant (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that commitment to exercises can be improved in individuals by using the aforementioned cognitive-behavioral protocol. Furthermore, using the mediating role of commitment to exercise improves mental health. Therefore, counselors and therapists can use the cognitive-behavioral intervention protocol to improve the commitment to exercise and the mental health of individuals.

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