Defy The Odds: Exercise Forecasting and Motivation Strategies for Prolonged-Sitting Jobs

This study aims to see if a new approach called "Exercise Forecasting" can help people with jobs with a lot of sitting get more active. It also tests if using this method in personal motivational messages makes it easier for them to exercise.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Can "Exercise Forecasting" be used effectively for people in jobs requiring long periods of sitting?
• Do these tailored, proactive messages encourage people to exercise more and sit less?

Participants will:

• Wear the provided smartwatch and answer two questions per day
• Receive customized motivational messages

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Prolonged Sitting
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Tailored messaging

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 20
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Wan-chin Kuo, PhD, RN; Email: wkuo4@wisc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Anthony McDonald; Email: admcdonald@wisc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Wisconsin
    • Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
      • Recruiting
      • University of Wisconsin - Madison
      • Contact: Wan-chin Kuo, PhD, RN; Email: wkuo4@wisc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Can communicate in English
• Currently participate in less than 30 minutes of regular physical activity per week.
• Healthy male/female, age >=40
• Currently working in a prolonged sitting job (e.g., truck driver or office worker).
• Have been working in this industry/business for at least one year.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have had a heart attack within the past three months
• Surgery in the past three months
• Recent stroke, mini-stroke/TIA in the past three months
• Recent seizure disorder or epilepsy in the past three months
• Had an aortic aneurysm before
• Have a medical condition or physical limitation that makes physical activity unsafe
• Currently meeting or exceeding physical activity guidelines (≥150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity activity or equivalent).
• Cannot wear a smartwatch for 30 days.
• Do not want to install a study APP in smart phone for 30 days.
• Cannot respond to the study APP notification for 30 days.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Office workers; Participants who are office workers	Behavioral: Tailored messaging; Participants receive motivational messages customized to their previously stated expectations and goals.
Experimental: Truck drivers; Participants who are truck drivers	Behavioral: Tailored messaging; Participants receive motivational messages customized to their previously stated expectations and goals.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Correlation between biometric data and self-reported exercise	Biometric data will be collected through the smartwatch. Participants are also asked to self-report what type of exercise they did. These will be correlated to learn whether probability of daily activity can be predicted.	20 days
Acceptability of customized messages	Acceptability will be qualitatively evaluated using one-on-one interviews, with semi-structured interview guides. Acceptability will be analyzed using thematic analyses.	30 days
Feasibility - retention rate	Retention rate will be measured by the number of participants who complete the study.	30 days
Change in level of physical activity when receiving custom motivational messages	Using data collected from the smartwatch, level of physical activity will be compared between pre-motivational messaging and post-motivational messaging.	Baseline to 30 days
Change in System Usability Scale (SUS) Score	SUS is a 10-item questionnaire about system usability. It is scored on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. Scores range from 0-100 (due to reverse scoring and 2.5 multiplication). Higher scores indicate greater usability.	Baseline to 30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Wan-chin Kuo, PhD, RN, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 16, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 11, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 11, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): March 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 20, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2026-0224; UWMSN | Nursing | Administrati (Other Identifier: UW Madison)

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