mPATH for Low-income Older Adults

April 9, 2026 updated by: Johns Hopkins University

mHealth-Facilitated Physical Activity Toward Health (mPATH) Intervention for Low-Income Older Adults

Although empirical research suggests that physical activity interventions benefit cognition and sleep in older adults in general, the possible benefit of physical activity is understudied in low-income older adults. The study aims to test the immediate and sustaining efficacy of an mHealth-facilitated Physical Activity Toward Health (mPATH) intervention on cognitive function and sleep in low-income older adults.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Low-income older adults (LIOA) are a population at higher risk to develop Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) and sleep disturbances. Although empirical research suggests that physical activity interventions benefit cognition and sleep in older adults in general, the possible benefit of physical activity is understudied in LIOA. The growing wearable device and mobile Health (mHealth) provide an innovative approach to deliver individually tailored physical activity interventions at home with flexible schedules to overcome barriers to physical activity in LIOA. In addition, limited research has examined if physical activity interventions impact the individual's Amyloid/Tau/ Neurodegeneration (ATN) Alzheimer's disease biological state and whether physical activity may promote cognition through impacting sleep and AD pathology. This randomized controlled trial is designed to examine the immediate and sustaining efficacy of an mHealth-facilitated Physical Activity Toward Health (mPATH) intervention on cognitive function and sleep in LIOA. mPATH is a personalized physical activity intervention that includes personalized physical activity plans and training sessions, exercise at home by following personalized exercise videos, and biweekly phone coaching over 24 weeks, supported by wearable devices-enabled mHealth strategies. mHealth strategies and exercise videos will be used to support participant's physical activity during 6-12months.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
176

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Julianna Kruemmel
  • Phone Number: 443-692-7169
  • Email: jkruemm1@jh.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21205
        • Recruiting
        • The Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing
        • Contact:
          • Junxin Li
          • Phone Number: 410-502-2608
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Junxin Li

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • self-reported difficulty of sleep
  • lack of physical activity/exercise
  • low household income
  • capacity for moderate intensity exercise

Exclusion Criteria:

  • untreated sleep apnea
  • severe depression or anxiety
  • dementia
  • history of neurologic or psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental impairment, traumatic brain injury
  • current enrollment in another clinical trial

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: mPATH
mPATH is a personalized physical activity intervention that includes personalized physical activity plans and training sessions, exercise at home by following personalized exercise videos, and biweekly phone coaching over 24 weeks, supported by wearable devices-enabled mHealth strategies. mHealth strategies and exercise videos will be used to support participant's physical activity during 6-12months
Behavioral: mPATH
The active mPATH intervention takes 6 months including (1) The physical activity education session , (2)mHealth learning and practice; (3)Personalized physical activity training, plan, and biweekly phone calls over 24 weeks (4) mHealth strategies to encourage physical activity and facilitate intervention adherence (5) (5) mPATH during 6-12 months: mPATH will be delivered mainly in 24 weeks before the 6-month data collection. During 6-12 months, the participants will have access to study mHealth strategies, and exercise videos. No additional physical activity training by staff will be supported.
Active Comparator: Education and Social control
This attention control group is designed to match the intervention for mPATH's staff-subject interaction duration through monthly home visits in the first 6 months
Other: Attention Control
A registered nurse from the study team will provide 6 monthly home visit (approximately 55-60 minutes each) to provide physical activity education, physical activity safety at home evaluation, feedback, and social activity (meaningful or enjoyable activities as identified by the participants, such as playing cards, doing arts and crafts, listening to music, talking about life history, etc.).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in episodic memory as assessed by the Cogstate
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Episodic memory will be measured by computerized cognitive batteries using Cogstate
Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Sleep efficiency as assessed by actigraphy
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
sleep efficiency will be measured by 7-day actigraph (reported as a percentage)
Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Johns Hopkins University

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Junxin Li, Johns Hopkins University
  • Study Director: Youngmin Cho, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 30, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
May 31, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
June 29, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 29, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 7, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 9, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • IRB00396390
  • 1R01AG080613-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

working on it

IPD Sharing Time Frame

become available after the primary outcome paper published online

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

with request

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • ICF
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings