Pasos Hacia La Salud - Physical Activity Intervention for Latinas

November 20, 2025 updated by: Dr.Bess Marcus, University of California, San Diego

Promoting Physical Activity in Latinas Via Interactive Web-Based Technology

In this study, investigators are specifically targeting Latina women as they are more likely to be inactive and, therefore, are at higher risk for developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.

The objective of Pasos Hacia La Salud is to test a Spanish-language Internet-based Physical Activity Intervention, in comparison to a Spanish-language Internet-based Wellness Contact Control condition. Participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups (Exercise and General Wellness).

The investigators hypothesize that at the end of treatment, intervention participants will report significantly more minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week than the wellness contact control participants.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In the U.S., Latino women (Latinas) report higher rates of inactivity than their non-Hispanic White and male counterparts and thus are disproportionately burdened by related health conditions (e.g., cancer, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes). Cultural factors, socioeconomic circumstances, language and educational barriers limit Latinas access to public health interventions that promote physically active lifestyles. To address this public health crisis, effective interventions that leverage state-of-the-art theory and methods are needed to reach this at-risk population. Our research group has over 20 years experience developing and evaluating individually-tailored, computer expert system-driven, physical activity interventions (based on Social Cognitive Theory and the Transtheoretical Model) through various channels and settings. In our recent pilot (R21NR009864), we culturally and linguistically adapted our tailored intervention for sedentary Latinas and conducted a small randomized trial of the modified program (N=93). A total of 81 participants completed the 6-month study (87% retention) and increased their physical activity from a mean of 17 minutes per week (SD=25.76) at baseline to 147 minutes (SD=241.55) at six months whereas contact control participants increased their physical activity from 12 minutes per week (SD=21.99) at baseline to 97 minutes (SD=118.49) at six months. These observed improvements in physical activity in our intervention group, along with high retention rates, participant-reported desire for an Internet-delivered program, and formative work developing our program in an Internet format lend support for testing an Internet intervention tailored to the needs of Latinas. Therefore, for the current proposal, we will build on our previous work by conducting an adequately powered (N=200) randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of our culturally and linguistically modified, individually tailored physical activity intervention delivered via the Internet relative to an Internet wellness contact control condition (including cardiovascular health information developed for Latinos by the NHLBI). Data will be collected at baseline, 6 months (post-treatment), and 12 months (maintenance) using well-established physical activity measures (7-Day PAR, Actigraphs), as well as a comprehensive set of psychosocial questionnaires. We hypothesize that at end of treatment (month six) intervention participants will report significantly more minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week than the wellness contact control participants. We will also examine the maintenance of treatment effects at 12 months, potential mediators and moderators of the intervention-physical activity relationship, and the costs of delivering the tailored Internet program. In the proposed study we seek to promote physical activity among an underserved population using a high-reach, low-cost, technology-based strategy, which has great potential for adoption on a larger scale and thus high potential for reducing health disparities in the U.S.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

207

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • La Jolla, California, United States, 92093
        • University of California San Diego

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Female
  • Generally healthy (If asthma and/or high blood pressure, may be able to participate with physician consent)
  • Sedentary (Less than 60 minutes per week of moderate or vigorous physical activity)
  • Latina (self-identified)
  • Must be able to read and write Spanish fluently
  • 18 - 65 years of age
  • Planning on living in the area for the next 12 months
  • Daily access to a computer with high speed internet

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant
  • BMI greater than 45
  • Not able to walk continuously for 30 minutes/limited ability to complete daily activity or ability to exercise
  • Exercise is against advice of doctor
  • Heart disease/treatment
  • Heart murmur
  • Angina/chest pain or Angina/chest pain with exertion
  • Palpitations
  • Stroke/Transient Ischemic Attacks
  • Peripheral Vascular Disease
  • Diabetes I or II
  • Chronic Infectious Disease - HIV, Hepatitis
  • Chronic liver disease
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Abnormal EKG on last EKG performed
  • Emphysema, Chronic bronchitis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  • Seizure in past year
  • Surgery in past year on heart, lung, joint, orthopedic surgery
  • Surgery pending in next year on lung, joint, orthopedic surgery
  • Unusual/concerning shortness of breath
  • Asthma (may be able to participate with physician consent)
  • High blood pressure/high blood pressure medication (may be able to participate with physician consent)
  • Use of beta blockers
  • Abnormal Medical Stress Test
  • Musculoskeletal problems
  • Fainting/dizziness more than 3 times in past year OR interferes with daily activities OR causes loss of balance
  • Cancer treatment in past 3 months
  • Hospitalized for psychiatric disorder in past 3 years or suicidal

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Physical Activity Intervention
Motivationally-tailored, Spanish Language, Internet-based Physical Activity intervention that specifically addresses the Physical Activity barriers and intervention needs/preferences of Latinas.
Behavioral: Physical Activity Intervention
Participants in the Physical Activity intervention arm of the study receive a Spanish language, motivationally-tailored, Internet-based Physical Activity intervention that specifically addresses the Physical Activity barriers and intervention needs/preferences of Latinas.
Active Comparator: Wellness Control
Internet-based, Spanish language, Wellness Contact control intervention addressing relevant health topics other than Physical Activity.
Behavioral: Wellness Control
Participants will receive a Spanish language, Internet-based Wellness Contact control intervention addressing relevant health topics other than physical activity.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total Weekly Minutes of Physical Activity as Measured by the 7-Day PAR (Physical Activity Recall), From Baseline to 6-months and 12-months.
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 months, and 12 months
The 7-Day PAR is an interviewer administered instrument that uses multiple strategies for increasing accuracy of participant recall regarding many types of activities such as time spent sleeping and moderate, hard, and very hard intensity activities. The 7-Day PAR is used across many studies assessing physical activity and has consistently demonstrated acceptable reliability, internal consistency, and congruent validity with other objective measures of activity levels.
Baseline, 6 months, and 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, San Diego

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Bess H Marcus, PhD, University of California, San Diego

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

December 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 12, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 12, 2013

First Posted (Estimated)

April 17, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

November 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 20, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pasos Hacia La Salud
  • R01CA159954-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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