Project Step II: The Effects of Incentives and Feedback on Promoting Walking Within Overweight and Obese Adults

June 29, 2018 updated by: Stephanie Kerrigan, Drexel University
This study will evaluate the main effects of daily vs. weekly feedback and contingent vs. non-contingent incentives for increasing walking behavior among overweight and obese adults.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Approximately 68% of adults are overweight or obese, which is associated with increased risk for health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. These individuals are more often sedentary than the general population, which compounds the risk for these same conditions. While the benefits of engaging in physical activity are well-established, few individuals are able to successfully increase activity to recommended levels. Existing intervention programs, often derived from theories such as social cognitive theory or related theories, have had limited success. Behavioral economics offers a promising alternative, suggesting that engagement in any behavior is based on the maximizing utility and happiness (i.e., weighing the cost and benefit of the behavior). Interventions based on this theory aim to increase the immediate benefit of engaging in physical activity, often using a financial incentive.

This study will last for 8 weeks. All participants will have the use of a FitBit for ongoing self-monitoring and a personalized step-count goal designed to help increase daily steps. Participants will receive feedback on reaching their goals either daily or weekly.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

61

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
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • Drexel 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

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 25 kg/m2 ≤ BMI ≤ 45 kg/m2
  • Age 18-70
  • Currently inactive (engages in less than 6,000 steps/day on at least 4 of 7 days per week OR engaged in less than 10,000 steps /day on at least 5/7 days per week, confirmed by FitBit at baseline)
  • Able to engage in moderate amount of walking
  • Able to receive email/text messages from study staff

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychiatric conditions that would make it difficult to comply
  • Medical conditions that would make it difficult to comply

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: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Non-contingent incentives and weekly feedback
Participants will receive payment for participating in the study (regardless of goal attainment) and will receive weekly updates about their performance.
Behavioral: Non-contingent incentives
Incentives are provided for participation
Behavioral: Weekly feedback
Text message feedback is delivered weekly summarizing the past week's progress
Experimental: Non-contingent incentives and daily feedback
Participants will receive payment for participating in the study (regardless of goal attainment) and will receive daily updates about their performance.
Behavioral: Non-contingent incentives
Incentives are provided for participation
Behavioral: Daily feedback
Text message feedback is delivered daily summarizing the current day's progress
Experimental: Contingent incentives and weekly feedback
Participants will receive payment for meeting their daily goals and will receive weekly updates about their performance.
Behavioral: Weekly feedback
Text message feedback is delivered weekly summarizing the past week's progress
Behavioral: Contingent incentives
Incentives are provided for attaining daily goals
Experimental: Contingent incentives and daily feedback
Participants will receive payment for meeting their daily goals and will receive daily updates about their performance.
Behavioral: Daily feedback
Text message feedback is delivered daily summarizing the current day's progress
Behavioral: Contingent incentives
Incentives are provided for attaining daily goals

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Step counts
Time Frame: Change from baseline to end of 6-week intervention
Average daily step counts
Change from baseline to end of 6-week intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Step counts
Time Frame: Change from end of intervention to end of 2-week follow-up
Average daily step counts
Change from end of intervention to end of 2-week follow-up
Step counts
Time Frame: Daily change during 6-week intervention
Daily change during 6-week intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Drexel University

Collaborators

American College of Sports Medicine
Psi Chi
Qualtrics

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 (Actual)

June 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 30, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

January 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 12, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 20, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

July 2, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 3, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 29, 2018

Last Verified

June 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1601004185-2

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.

Clinical Trials on Physical Activity

Clinical Trials on Non-contingent incentives

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Guinea

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe