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

August 11, 2026 updated by: University of Wisconsin, Madison

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

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

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
    • Wisconsin
      • Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
        • University of Wisconsin - Madison

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

  • 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

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

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
Time Frame: 20 days
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
Time Frame: 30 days
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
Time Frame: 30 days
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
Time Frame: Baseline to 30 days
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
Time Frame: Baseline to 30 days
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

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

Sponsor

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Collaborators

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Investigators

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

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 16, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

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)

August 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 11, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-0224
  • UWMSN | Nursing | Administrati (Other Identifier: UW Madison)
  • T42OH008434 (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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