AgingPLUS: Promoting Physical Activity in Adults

June 16, 2025 updated by: Manfred Diehl, PhD, Colorado State University

Testing Psychological Mechanisms to Promote Physical Activity in Adults

This study examines the efficacy of a psycho-educational intervention program, AgingPLUS, with regard to increasing middle-aged and older adults' engagement in physical activity.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

AgingPLUS is a multi-component intervention program that addresses negative views of aging (NVOA), low internal control beliefs, and deficient goal planning as a risk cluster that keeps adults from engaging in health-promoting behavior. The program focuses on engagement in physical activity (PA) as the health behavior of choice. Engagement in PA is widely recognized as the best non-pharmacological, non-invasive, and cost-effective method of health promotion. Yet, only 20% of the adult population meets the recommended PA guidelines. This suggests that messages about the benefits of PA alone are not effective. Rather, it is essential to address the social-cognitive and motiva-tional mechanisms that prevent adults from adopting and maintaining a regular PA regimen. NVOA, low internal control beliefs, and deficient goal planning represent such a cluster of social-cognitive and motivational mechanisms.

Given this background, the specific aims and hypotheses of the proposed research are:

Aim 1: To conduct a randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of the AgingPLUS program.

Aim 2: To test a conceptual model of the mechanisms underlying the intervention effects.

Aim 3: To conduct a 6-month follow-up to examine the longer-term effects of AgingPLUS.

Upon completion of this project, we expect to have successfully established evidence for the efficacy of the AgingPLUS program (Stage II of the NIH Stage Mode). The long-term goal is to develop AgingPLUS into a full-fledged evidence-based program that can be implemented in community settings (e.g., senior centers), and can serve as a fairly brief and cost-effective public health tool to promote healthy and successful aging.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

402

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
    • Colorado
      • Fort Collins, Colorado, United States, 80523-1570
        • Colorado State University

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

45 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults who engage in less than 60 minutes of PA per week and who intend starting a physical exercise program.
  • English speaking.
  • Willingness to be randomized to one of two programs.
  • Willingness to take part in the physical fitness tests and wear an accelerometer.
  • Willingness to commit to follow-up testing (i.e., not moving out of the area during the study period).
  • Physician clearance to take part in a submaximal exercise test and to begin an exercise program.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Signs of cognitive decline (defined as more than 4 errors on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire).
  • Severe vision and/or hearing loss (obtained by self-report).
  • Serious problems with mobility.
  • A history of neurological, mental, or substance abuse disorders.

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Active Treatment Group
This group will get the AgingPLUS intervention program which addresses negative views on aging, low internal control beliefs, and deficient goal planning skills.
Behavioral: AgingPLUS
The program consists of 2-hour meetings for a total of 4 weeks (total of 8 hours) and discusses (a) how negative views on aging and negative age stereotypes undermine adults' health-promoting behaviors; (b) how adults can take control of their own aging; and (c) how personal goals can be achieved through more effective goal planning and action plans.
Placebo Comparator: Active Control Group
This group will get a generic health education program, called the "10 Keys to Healthy Aging". The control program will control for the effect of social contact and will not address the intervention targets of the active treatment group. The health education program will only provide information related to some of the most important health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and clinical depression, and how these conditions can be managed.
Behavioral: Active Control Group
The program consists of 2-hour meetings for a total of 4 weeks (total of 8 hours) and discusses (a) four major health conditions that affect the lives of many middle-aged and older adults (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes; clinical depression); and (b) how these conditions can be managed successfully.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Increased physical activity
Time Frame: This effect should be observable (1) at the Week-4 post-test, (2) the Week-8 post-test, and (3) the 6-Month post-test.
We expect that participants significantly increase their engagement in physical activity as assessed by an accelerometer.
This effect should be observable (1) at the Week-4 post-test, (2) the Week-8 post-test, and (3) the 6-Month post-test.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Colorado State University

Collaborators

Johns Hopkins University
National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Manfred K. Diehl, PhD, Colorado State 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.

General Publications

Helpful Links

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)

May 1, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 23, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 27, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

October 3, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 19, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 16, 2025

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 3437
  • 5R01AG051723-05 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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