Motivating People to Be Physically Active

Motivating People to Be Physically Active, Third Edition, is a comprehensive guide to designing effective physical activity intervention programs that encourage people to reduce sedentary behavior and incorporate physical activity into their everyday lives.

Bess H. Marcus, PhD, is a professor of behavioral and social sciences and served as the second dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University. She is a clinical health psychologist who has spent over 30 years conducting research on physical activity behavior and has published over 275 papers and book chapters as well as three books on this topic. She has developed a series of assessment instruments to measure psychosocial mediators of physical activity behavior and has also developed low-cost interventions to promote physical activity behavior in community, workplace, and primary care settings.

Marcus served on the executive committee for the development of a national strategic plan for physical activity and now serves on the board of directors for the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance, the editorial board of the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, the international editorial board of the Journal of Mental Health and Physical Activity, and the Rhode Island Long-Term Health Planning Committee. She is actively involved on numerous NIH grants on physical activity behavior and public health. Her work increasingly focuses on promoting physical activity in underserved and vulnerable populations.

Dori Pekmezi, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor in the department of health behavior in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research and teaching focus on the application of behavioral theory and technology to physical activity promotion in underserved or at-risk populations. She has published almost 80 professional articles and book chapters on these topics and served as principal investigator or co-investigator on at least 15 physical activity research grants. Pekmezi is also a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and a cochair for the professional society’s Physical Activity Special Interest Group.