Physical Activity Promotion in Children Using a Novel Smartphone Game: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Increasing physical activity is critical for children's overall health. Smartphone apps using gamification has shown promise to increasing physical activity using game techniques. This study is a 4-week randomized controlled trial using a gamified smartphone app to determine acceptability and preliminary effectiveness to increase physical activity in children.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Physical Activity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Physical activity tracking app; Behavioral: Gamified Smartphone App

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 160
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sam Liu, PhD; Phone Number: 2507218392; Email: samliu@uvic.ca
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Sam Lapusniak, Masters; Phone Number: 2508094655; Email: samlapusniak@uvic.ca

Study Locations

• Canada
  • British Columbia
    • Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, V8W2Y2
      • Recruiting
      • University of Victoria

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 14 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children aged 8-14 years old
• Not meeting the recommended Canadian physical activity guidelines of 60min per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
• English-literate
• Normal to corrected vision

Exclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis or injury that prevents physical activity participation
• No access to a smartphone or tablet

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
Sham Comparator: Physical Activity Tracking App Only; Over a four week period, participants were asked to use the Fitbit app to track their daily physical activity.	Behavioral: Physical activity tracking app; Participants were asked to use the Fitbit app to track and sync their daily physical activity.; Other Names: Fitbit app
Active Comparator: Physical Activity Tracking + Gamified Smartphone App; Over a four week period, participants were asked to use the Fitbit app to track their daily physical activity. Additionally, they were asked to use the gamified smartphone app, Draco, during the intervention period.	Behavioral: Gamified Smartphone App; The primary objective was to determine the acceptability and satisfaction of the Draco app among children. Secondary objective was to evaluate if the Draco app could improve physical activity levels (steps, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) and intrinsic motivation for physical activity in children. The gamified smartphone app, Draco, is a virtual pet simulator where you care for a pet by exercising, walking, and answering healthy lifestyle questions.; Other Names: Draco app

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
User satisfaction with gamified smartphone app	User satisfaction was measured using an adapted version of the short form Intrinsic Motivation Inventory used by Ahn, Johnsen & Ball, 2019. Items pertained to the enjoyment, satisfaction of using the app and if the experience was unenjoyable. Scores are rated on a 5 point Likert scale where 1 is the lowest score and 5 is the highest. 1 = Not true for me; 2 = Not really true for me; 3 = Sometimes true for me; 4 = Often true for me; 5 = Very true for me.	4 weeks
Acceptability with gamified smartphone app	Exit interviews were performed after the intervention period to determine satisfaction and acceptability. Questions related to their experience using the app, their physical activity behavior (before, during, and after the intervention period) and recommendations for app content	4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Steps	Steps were collected using a Fitbit over the intervention period. Fitbit is a previously validated and reliable instrument to measure physical activity (Feehan et al., 2018).	4 weeks
Physical activity minutes	Minutes of physical activity engaged in by the participants were collected using a Fitbit device worn by participants. The device is worn while the participant is engaging in physical activity. The intensity of exercise is calculated by heartrate. Fitbit is a previously validated and reliable instrument to measure physical activity (Feehan et al., 2018).	4 weeks
Motivation for physical activity	Motivation for physical activity was measured using an adapted version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory used by Ahn, Johnsen & Ball, 2019. Questions related to perceived competence to physical activity, perceived autonomy to physical activity and perceived relatedness to the app. The items addressed perceived competence, perceived autonomy, and relatedness. Scores are rated on a 5 point Likert scale where 1 is the lowest score and 5 is the highest. 1 = Not true for me; 2 = Not really true for me; 3 = Sometimes true for me; 4 = Often true for me; 5 = Very true for me.	4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Victoria

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 28, 2019
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): March 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Anticipated): April 15, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 13, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 13, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): October 19, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 5, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 28, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Physical Activity; Children; Mobile health; Gamification
• Other Study ID Numbers: UVic181243

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

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