A Randomized-controlled Trial of Social Norm Interventions to Increase Physical Activity

March 15, 2016 updated by: Linda Diane Cameron, University of California, Merced
Objective: Physical activity confers numerous health benefits, yet few adults meet recommended physical activity guidelines. The impact of brief messages providing feedback on physical activity was tested in this study. Methods: Young adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) feedback on how active others were, (2) feedback on how active others were plus a message of approval or disapproval depending on whether the participant was more or less active than average, or (3) no feedback (control condition). Participants used pedometers for eight weekdays and recorded their step counts each evening. The group receiving feedback on how active others were got information about the average number of steps taken by group members the previous day. The group that also received approval or disapproval received feedback about the group average, as well as a sad face if the participant was below the average or a happy face if the participant was above the average. The control group received no feedback throughout the study. Impacts of these feedback messages were compared on number of steps taken during the study.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

111

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18 or older

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Answering yes to any questions on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire.

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
No feedback on progress of other participants.
Experimental: Descriptive Social Norm
Average physical activity of other participants in study conveyed to this group.
Behavioral: Descriptive Social Norm
Experimental: Descriptive-plus-Injunctive Social Norm
Average physical activity of other participants in study and message of approval or disapproval (depending on how one is faring compared to others) conveyed to this group.
Behavioral: Descriptive-plus-Injunctive Social Norm

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of steps
Time Frame: Two weeks
Number of steps taken daily, as measured by a pedometer.
Two weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, Merced

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

February 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 11, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 11, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

March 16, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 17, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2016

Last Verified

March 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UCM13-00012

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

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.

Clinical Trials on Physical Activity

Clinical Trials on Descriptive Social Norm

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Georgia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe