A Group-Based Walking Study Using WeChat to Enhance Physical Activity Among Older Adults

A Group-Based Walking Study Using WeChat to Enhance Physical Activity Among Older Adults: The Role of Social Engagement

The aim for the study is to use the function WeRun in the application WeChat to encourage physical activity and social engagement among community dwelling older adults and their family members and friends. The specific aims are to test the effectiveness of a social contact and comparison intervention for increasing regular daily physical activity among community dwelling older adults, and to examine the potential effectiveness of WeChat in cultivating social engagement and well-being among community dwelling older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sedentary Behavior; Inactivity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Control condition; Behavioral: Treatment condition

Detailed Description

The aim for the study is to use the function WeRun in the application WeChat to encourage physical activity and social engagement among community dwelling older adults. The investigators asked participants in the social engagement group to use the WeRun function in WeChat to track their daily walking steps and to compare their performance with their group members for 4 weeks. To encourage social engagement among their group members, the daily walking steps were calculated and the participant who has the highest step count in the group will be indicated each day.Those in the control group will only use the WeRun function in WeChat to track their own walking steps.

The investigators expected that the participants in the social contact group will walk more often and report more social activities than those in the control group, who will not compete with their peers in daily walking. To test these predictions, daily walking steps and the total walking steps per week were obtained and compared across groups. The nature and the extent of change was analyzed over the four weeks. Exercise self-efficacy was measured using a measure based on Bandura's model. Social engagement was measured using the short Lubben Social Network Scale, a self report measure of social engagement on a 12-item scale, and physical activity was measured using International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), a self-report measure of physical activity on a 12-item scale.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Waltham, Massachusetts, United States, 02453
      • Brandeis University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants who are 60 or older who have a cellphone, with either android or iPhone system with data plan.
• They must be fit enough to walk for at least 20 minutes at a time.
• English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to walk more than 20 minutes;
• do not have smart phone with data plan.
• younger than 60

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Control Condition; Participants only saw their own daily walking steps using the WeRun function in WeChat. They did not use WeChat to see other group members' daily steps and did not engage in social contact with their group members.	Behavioral: Control condition; Participants in the control group only saw their own daily walking steps using the WeChat. They did not use WeChat to see other group members' daily steps and did not contact other group members. The participants were asked to use the app every day. A message (through WeChat) was sent to remind them to use the application if they had not done so within three days.
Experimental: Treatment condition; Participants saw their own and other group member's daily walking steps using the WeRun function in WeChat and they were able to contact the other members of their group using We Chat.	Behavioral: Treatment condition; Participants in the experimental condition used WeChat for 4 weeks to see their own and other's walking steps and also were able to contact other group members. The participants were asked to use the application every day. A message (through the group chat) was sent to remind them to use the application if they have not done so within three days.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Steps Walked	Weekly average number of steps recorded with WeRun on the phone [ (averaged across 7 days at Baseline week and averaged across 7 days at Week 4 (Posttest) and averaged across 7 days at Week 8 (one month follow up)].	[Time Frame: Baseline (pretest) Week, Week 4 (posttest) and Week 8 (one month follow up)]

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social Engagement	Short Lubben Social Network Scale-Revised, a self-report measure of social engagement on a 12-item scale. The total score is calculated by the sum of all the items. The total score ranges between 0 and 60, with a higher score indicating more social engagement.	Pretest given 1 week before the intervention and then at the posttest after the 4 week study and one month follow up
Exercise Self Efficacy	This scale is a self-report of exercise self-efficacy. Total score is calculated by summing the responses to each question. This scale has a range of total scores from 0-90. A higher score indicates higher self-efficacy for exercise.	Pretest given 1 week before the intervention and then at the posttest after the 4 week study and one month follow up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Brandeis University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Liu Y, Lachman ME. A Group-Based Walking Study to Enhance Physical Activity Among Older Adults: The Role of Social Engagement. Res Aging. 2021 Oct-Dec;43(9-10):368-377. doi: 10.1177/0164027520963613. Epub 2020 Oct 6.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 30, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): July 2, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 24, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 10, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): January 14, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 9, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 19, 2020
• Last Verified: October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 18131

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No