Roybal Via Habit Formation (Via Habit)

September 23, 2026 updated by: Shiyu Li, PhD, Louisiana State University and A&M College

Automata Modeling Approach to Identify and Pilot-Test Receptive Windows for Physical Activity Habit Formation in Midlife Adults

This pilot study will develop and evaluate ViaHabit, a personalized walking intervention designed to promote physical activity habit formation among sedentary midlife adults (ages 45-65). During an initial 2-week observation period, participants' daily routines will be characterized using data collected from wearable devices, smartphones, and digital calendars. Personalized models will identify routine transitions, defined as periods between everyday activities, that may serve as receptive opportunities for initiating physical activity. Participants will then complete a 4-week intervention in which they create individualized "if-then" action plans linking routine transitions to a 15-minute brisk walk and receive automated smartwatch prompts at selected cue times. The study will assess the feasibility and acceptability of identifying routine transitions and delivering timely physical activity prompts, while exploring changes in walking behavior, habit strength, and physical activity engagement.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Not yet 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

This pilot study will develop and evaluate ViaHabit, a personalized, cue-based walking intervention designed to promote physical activity habit formation among sedentary midlife adults. The study is based on the premise that routine transitions, defined as periods when one daily activity has ended and another has not yet begun, may represent receptive opportunities for initiating new health behaviors. The long-term goal is to increase physical activity during midlife, a critical period for reducing risk factors associated with cognitive decline and dementia.

The study will enroll approximately 10 adults aged 45 to 65 years who are physically inactive and experience competing work, caregiving, parenting, or other role demands. Participants must own or be willing to use an iPhone-compatible device and be able to walk without assistance.

The study uses a 12-week, single-arm, within-subject design consisting of two phases. During Phase 1 (2-week observation period), participants will use an Apple Watch, smartphone applications, and digital calendar tools to collect multimodal data on daily behavior, including physical activity, location patterns, calendar events, and contextual information. These data will be used to develop individualized computational models of participants' daily routines and identify recurring routine transitions that may serve as effective cues for physical activity initiation.

Following model development, participants will enter Phase 2 (4-week intervention period). In a virtual coaching session, participants will identify up to two routine transitions that can function as cues for walking and will create personalized "if-then" action plans linking those cues to a 15-minute brisk walk. Automated smartwatch notifications will be delivered when the selected routine transitions occur to increase cue salience and support initiation of physical activity. Walking behavior will be continuously monitored through wearable devices.

The primary objectives are to evaluate the feasibility of identifying individualized routine transitions from passive sensing data and the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a personalized, cue-based walking intervention anchored to those transitions. Secondary and exploratory outcomes include adherence to study procedures, walking behavior, cue-triggered behavioral enactment, habit strength, physical activity levels, and cognitive function. Habit strength will be assessed using measures of behavioral automaticity, while cognitive function will be evaluated through mobile cognitive assessments administered during the intervention period.

The findings will inform the development of scalable, data-driven interventions that leverage naturally occurring daily routines to support physical activity habit formation and healthy aging.

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.
10

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.
  • Name: Shiyu Li, PhD
  • Phone Number: 225-578-0977
  • Email: sli40@lsu.edu

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Kimberly Allen, MA
  • Phone Number: 225-578-2363

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Louisiana
      • Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, 70803
        • Louisiana State University School of Kinesiology

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

45 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 45 to 65 years.
  • Reports no leisure-time physical activity during the past month and engages in <400 MET-minutes/week of physical activity as assessed by the IPAQ-Short Form.
  • Has competing role demands, defined as ≥10 hours/week of paid work, caregiving, parenting, or volunteer activities.
  • Owns an iPhone (iOS smartphone) with reliable internet access and is willing to use study-related mobile applications and wearable devices.
  • Able to walk without assistance.
  • Uses, or is willing to use, a digital calendar application and share de-identified event timing data with the study team.
  • Able to understand study procedures and provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Plans to relocate or engage in extended travel during the next 3 months.
  • Pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the study period.
  • Currently participating in another physical activity or behavioral intervention study.
  • Has a medical condition that may limit safe participation in walking, impair the ability to provide informed consent, or interfere with study adherence.

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

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: ViaHabit Intervention

Participants complete a 2-week observation period during which individualized routine models are developed using wearable, smartphone, and calendar data, followed by a 4-week ViaHabit intervention consisting of routine-transition cue selection, if-then action planning, and automated smartwatch prompts to support initiation of 15-minute brisk walks.
Behavioral: ViaHabit

ViaHabit is a personalized, cue-based walking intervention designed to promote physical activity habit formation in sedentary midlife adults. Following a 2-week observation period, individualized routine models are developed using data collected from wearable devices, smartphones, and digital calendars. Participants then complete a coaching session to identify up to two routine transitions that can serve as cues for physical activity and develop personalized if-then action plans linking each cue to a 15-minute brisk walk. During the 4-week intervention period, automated smartwatch notifications are delivered at the selected routine-transition cues to increase cue salience and support initiation of walking behavior. The intervention aims to strengthen cue-behavior associations through repeated pairing of routine completion cues with walking, thereby increasing behavioral automaticity and physical activity participation.

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
Feasibliity of the ViaHabit Intervention - Recruitment
Time Frame: Week 8 (end of intervention)

Feasibility will be assessed by participant recruitment rates.
Week 8 (end of intervention)
Feasibliity of the ViaHabit Intervention - Retention
Time Frame: Week 8 (end of intervention)

Feasibility will be assessed by participant retention rates.
Week 8 (end of intervention)
Feasibliity of the ViaHabit Intervention - Data Collection
Time Frame: Week 8 (end of intervention)

Feasibility will be assessed by participant completion of Phase 1 data collection.
Week 8 (end of intervention)

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
Habit Strength for Walking
Time Frame: Baseline and weekly during the 4 week intervention period through Week 8

Habit strength will be assessed using the 4-item Self-Reported Behavioral Automaticity Index (SRBAI), adapted to each participant's selected routine-transition cue. Higher scores indicate greater automaticity of walking behavior in response to the cue.
Baseline and weekly during the 4 week intervention period through Week 8

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.
Louisiana State University and A&M College

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.
Penn State University

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 (Estimated)

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.
October 1, 2026

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.
April 30, 2027

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.
June 30, 2027

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).
September 9, 2026

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.
September 23, 2026

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.
September 29, 2026

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.
September 29, 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.
September 23, 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.
August 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.
  • AM260787
  • AM260787 (Other Grant/Funding Number: University of Michigan Roybal Center)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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.

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