Tweet4Wellness: An Online Virtual Support Group for Promoting Increased Physical Activity
April 9, 2020 updated by: Judith Prochaska, Stanford University
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a Twitter-based intervention with a private, online support group can significantly increase number of walking steps compared to self-monitoring of physical activity alone or a control group in sedentary women at a women's heart clinic.
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Sedentary behavior is a risk factor for heart disease, independent of meeting physical activity guidelines. Tweet4Wellness is an innovative light physical activity, specifically walking, intervention which randomly assigns participants to a 25-person private, online support group that will receive daily, theory-based messages as peer-to-peer discussion prompts. Many text-based interventions do not base the intervention text messages in behavior change theory, but this study will base the daily messages in the behavior change theories such as implementation intentions, social support, mindfulness, and social learning theory.
The trial will be conducted over a 6-month periods. For the first 3 months, there will be 2 groups: Group 1 will receive the Twitter intervention and a "Fitbit" triaxial pedometer to track their steps throughout the day; Group 2 will receive the Fitbit pedometer only.
For the second 3 months: Group 1 an Group 2 will track their physical activity with Fitbit only.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
45
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
-
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California
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Stanford, California, United States, 94305-7240
- Stanford University School of Medicine
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-
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
Female
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Are a woman
- Are over 18 years of age
- Are English speaking
- Have or are willing to purchase a mobile phone with a camera
- Have or are willing to purchase an unlimited text plan
- Are willing to participate in daily tweets or texts for up to 3 months
- Have an active email account
- Have internet access on your mobile phone
- Use or are familiar with Facebook, Twitter, or other social media
- Text at least weekly
Exclusion Criteria:
- Have certain symptoms or conditions that would not be conducive to increasing your physical activity as determined by your physician
- Are planning on becoming pregnant in the next 8 months
- If our screening survey indicates that you are already adequately physically active
- Do not provide all required personal contact information
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: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Group 1: Tweet4Wellness+Self-monitoring
This group will receive the Tweet4Wellness intervention: daily theory-based peer-to-peer discussion prompt within the private Twitter-based support group for the entire 6 months of the study.
They will also receive the Fitbit triaxial pedometer that will track their daily steps (self-monitoring component).
|
A daily, behavior change theory-based intervention message is sent to a private, 25-person online Twitter-support group to prompt peer-to-peer discussion.
Participants receive individual text messages to encourage group participation (e.g.
'thank you for participating' or 'please participate tomorrow').
Participants also receive weekly individual messages giving them daily step goals for the week based on their previous week's daily step average, recorded from Fitbit.
A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.
|
|
Active Comparator: Group 2: Self-monitoring
This group will receive the Fitbit triaxial pedometer that will track their daily steps (self-monitoring component) for the first 3 months.
For the second three months of the study, they will receive the Tweet4Wellness intervention in addition to their Fitbit self-monitoring.
|
A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in steps (physical activity)
Time Frame: Baseline to 3 months and 6 months
|
Steps measured by triaxial accelerometer
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Baseline to 3 months and 6 months
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Support Group Engagement during the intervention
Time Frame: 3 months
|
Measured by # of Tweets per day sent to the group
|
3 months
|
|
average length of prolonged sedentary periods per day
Time Frame: baseline to 3 months and 6 months
|
average length of uninterrupted sedentary periods per day over a seven day period
|
baseline to 3 months and 6 months
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Judith Prochaska, PhD, Stanford University
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.
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)
June 20, 2019
Primary Completion (Actual)
December 15, 2019
Study Completion (Actual)
December 20, 2019
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
February 22, 2016
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
November 4, 2016
First Posted (Estimate)
November 8, 2016
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
April 10, 2020
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
April 9, 2020
Last Verified
April 1, 2020
More Information
Terms related to this study
Other Study ID Numbers
- 32127
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
No
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