‘If you’re uncomfortable, go outside your comfort zone’: A novel behavioral ‘stretch’ intervention supports the well-being of unhappy people

Figures & data

Table 1. Content and frequency of activities of intervention group (Time 1).

Content of Activity	Frequency of Activities	Cumulative Percentage of Activity Frequencies	Excerpts from Participant Reports
Physical activity	19	27.14	‘I chose to practice yoga. This is something I’ve never done.’
Learning	8	38.58	‘I’ve decided to learn a new language.’
Self-care	7	48.58	‘I met with a friend for breakfast.’ ‘I bought myself something new.’ ‘I challenged myself to go to therapy.’
Work	6	57.15	‘I’ve decided to ask for a raise.’
Relations/dating	4	62.86	‘I went out to a movie with someone for the first time.’
			‘I’ve decided to take the chance and finally leave my partner after five years.’
Volunteering and helping others	4	68.57	‘I had really long hair, and I decided to get a short haircut and donate my hair.’
Daily routine	4	74.28	‘I took my daughter to kindergarten. Since the kindergarten is a 25-minute walk from our house, I always take a bus there. I arrived at the station with her, and instead of waiting there I just walked.’
Participating in a social event	4	79.99	‘As a person who loves quiet and does not connect to places where there are too many people and noise, I chose to participate in the university opening event.’
Family time	4	85.70	‘To make it easier for my family I decided to prepare the holiday meal instead of them.’
Food-related	3	89.99	‘I chose to try to bake because it was something I always shied away from.’
Hobby	3	94.28	‘I chose to start learning to play guitar.’
Travel	2	97.14	‘I chose an unusual step for me and booked a flight abroad for next week.’
Court	1	98.57	‘I had to speak to the judge and explain my arguments.’
Medical	1	100	‘I’m pregnant and it gets time to do sugar testing. There is nothing that frightens me more than needles. This time I had to go alone I decided to go for it and do the blood tests’.
Total	70

Table 2. Content and frequency of activities of control group (Time 1).

Content of Activity	Frequency of Activities	Cumulative Percentage of Activities’ Frequencies	Excerpts from Participant Reports
Leisure time with others (partner,family, friends)	23	20.35	‘I met with a friend for dinner, we sat and talked.’
Work/studies/ everyday tasks	20	38.05	‘I was doing phone and emails that are related to my work.’
Organizing	18	53.98	‘I woke up at 7:30 a.m., got dressed, went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.’
Food-related tasks	17	69.02	‘I had toast for breakfast.’
Leisure time alone (TV, music)	16	83.18	‘Watching a movie on TV.’
Sports	7	89.38	‘I went for a workout at the gym.’
Rest	6	94.69	‘I went to bed to rest.’
Household tasks	6	100	‘I arranged the house - laundry, doing dishes.’
Total	113

Note. The total count in this condition exceeds the number of participants (n = 71), because each participant could engage in multiple activities.

Figure 1. Flow of participants through each stage of the study.

Figure 2. Change scores for participants low versus high in baseline life satisfication, as determined by a median split.

Note. Change in life satisfaction as a function of baseline life satisfaction. Scores represent the difference between the average of the two post-intervention assessments and the baseline assessment. If only one post-intervention time point is available, its value is used. The right panel represents covariate-adjusted means and standard errors.

Table 3. Means, standard deviation, and T-Test results for intervention and control groups.

Coded Category	Control Group		Intervention Group
	M	SD	M	SD	t	df	d
Out of comfort zone	.13	.41	1.75	.89	13.90***	139	2.35*
Courage	.00	.00	1.30	1.10	9.85***	139	1.67*
Affirmation	.24	.61	1.51	1.00	9.01***	139	1.53*
Happiness	.15	.46	1.50	1.18	8.99***	139	1.52*
Stress	.11	.06	1.09	1.13	6.56***	139	1.11*
Fear	.00	.00	.84	1.19	5.91***	139	1.00*
Negative emotions	.20	.58	.97	.99	5.61***	139	.95*
Effort	.42	.82	1.31	1.07	5.56***	139	.94*
Positive emotions	.84	.72	1.55	1.07	4.65***	139	.78*
Boredom	.32	.68	.02	.13	−3.58***	139	−.61*

Note. Control group code = 0, n = 71; intervention group code = 1, n = 70. Effect sizes (d) are based on the mean difference between conditions divided by the pooled standard deviation. Levene’s correction for unequal variance applied to tests of courage, fear, and stress. Additionally, for variables in which no variance was obtained in the control group, nonparametric tests yield the same statistically significant results.

Table 4. Perceived psychological function frequencies for intervention group (Time 1).

Psychological Function	Frequency of Psychological Function	Cumulative Percentage of Psychological Function Frequencies	Excerpts from Participant Reports
Exploration	25	35.71	‘I chose to go to an opera show. I did not believe I would enjoy opera.’ ‘I decided to leave the comfort zone of driving in a private car, and for a week to travel only through public transport.’ ‘I went to the gym for the first time.’ ‘I signed up for a sewing course.’
Facing a fear	13	54.28	‘I chose to go with my daughter to an insect museum, because it is a very difficult phobia I have.’
Self-assertion	11	70.00	‘I chose to speak up in front of an audience.’ ‘I chose to finally tell someone close to me what I feel. I noticed that often it is uncomfortable for me to tell people the truth and then I give them all kinds of excuses.’ ‘I chose to ask for a salary increase.’
Self-care	9	82.85	‘I chose to get a massage because I work so hard and I finally wanted to do something for myself.’
Doing good	7	92.85	‘I chose to separate garbage in order to recycle and contribute to the environment.’ ‘I chose to volunteer to help students with hearing loss.’
Dealing with a challenge	5	100	‘I worked on myself for hours to convince myself to go to class.’ ‘I chose to create a new schedule to deal with my heavy workload in work and life and not having free time.’
Total	70

Table 5. Perceived facilitator frequencies for intervention group (Time 1).

Facilitator	Frequency of Facilitator	Cumulative Percentage of Facilitator	Excerpts from Participant Reports
Courage	28	40.00	‘I did it despite the fear.’ ‘I’m glad I had the courage to do it.’
External commitment	18	65.70	‘Having a clear goal and framework enabled me to get there.’ ‘I had to introduce myself to the entire company.’ ‘Being committed to the task made me to try harder.’
Having an open mind	18	91.40	‘I chose an unusual step for me.’ ‘It is a spontaneous one-moment thought expressed in action.’
Thinking of others	6	100	‘It gave me an opportunity to transcend my personal needs and to give her a bit of encouragement.’ ‘It helped me to realize that I’ll improve their confidence and make them happy by doing that.’
Total	70

Data availability statement

The data for the reported research are available from the corresponding author, P.R.N, upon request.