Way to Be Active III (Framing Incentives)

A Randomized Trial of Behavioral Economic Interventions to Improve Physical Activities: Framing Incentives

Employers are increasingly looking for opportunities to motivate sedentary employees to become more physically active. Workplace walking programs have had mixed success and typically show most improvement among participants that are already fairly active at a baseline. The goal of this study is to determine whether a financial incentive program can motivate sedentary employees to increase the number of steps they walk per day to meet a minimum threshold.

The primary outcome measure is the proportion of days a minimum activity of 7000 steps or more is achieved. Outcomes will be assessed each week for 3 months using incentives followed by 3 months of follow-up without incentives. Secondary outcomes will include the average steps walked per day.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Behavioral: Daily feedback

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 281
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 09104
      • University of Pennsylvania

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 100 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age greater than 18.
2. Participant will need an iPhone or Android smartphone to be able to use the Moves App for tracking steps

Exclusion Criteria:

1. A score of "high" on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) activity level scale
2. BMI less than 27
3. Pregnant or lactating
4. Participation in another physical activity study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control; The participant will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether the participant achieved their goal for the prior day.	Behavioral: Daily feedback
Experimental: Gain Framing; Participants will be told that they will earn money for each day they walk at least 7000 steps. Each participant will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether or not he/she achieved the goal for the prior day and can collect the earnings. Non-adherent participants will receive messages about how much they would have earned had they met their target step goal.	Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Behavioral: Daily feedback
Experimental: Loss Framing; The participants will be told that their account has been credited a certain amount of money for the upcoming 30 days. However, for each day they do not meet their goal of at least 7000 steps, they will lose a small portion of that money. The participant will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether the participant achieved the goal for the prior day. Non-adherent participants will receive messages about how much the participant would have kept had they met the target step goal.	Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Behavioral: Daily feedback
Experimental: Daily Lottery; Each participant will be entered into a lottery daily, but participants will only be eligible to collect their winnings if they walked at least 7000 steps the day before. Participants will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether or not they won the lottery and if they met their target step goal. If both occur, the participant will be told how much money he or she won. Non-adherent participants will receive messages about how much they would have won had they met the target step goal.	Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Behavioral: Daily feedback

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of Days Each Individual Walks 7000 Steps Per Day or More	The primary outcome measure is the mean proportion of participant-days a minimum activity of 7000 steps or more is achieved. Outcomes will be assessed each week for 3 months using incentives followed by 3 months of follow-up without incentives.	Throughout the 6 month study

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Average Number of Steps Per Day	Secondary outcomes include average number of steps each individual takes per day throughout the 13-week intervention and additional 13-week follow-up periods.	Throughout the 6 month study

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kevin M Volpp, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania; Study Director: Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, University of Pennsylvania

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Patel MS, Asch DA, Rosin R, Small DS, Bellamy SL, Heuer J, Sproat S, Hyson C, Haff N, Lee SM, Wesby L, Hoffer K, Shuttleworth D, Taylor DH, Hilbert V, Zhu J, Yang L, Wang X, Volpp KG. Framing Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2016 Mar 15;164(6):385-94. doi: 10.7326/M15-1635. Epub 2016 Feb 16.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: February 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 20, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 7, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): January 8, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 2, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 26, 2017
• Last Verified: September 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Physical Activity; Obesity; Sedentary lifestyle; Behavioral Economics; Financial Incentives; Pedometers
• Other Study ID Numbers: 819149