None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Efforts to correct the physical inactivity pandemic have focused on leisure-time physical activity (PA) with limited impact. Public transport (PT) users accumulate more PA than motor vehicle users, yet intervention studies to increase PA through transported-related behaviour are sparse. Further, incentive-based strategies have demonstrated some promise for increasing leisure-time PA, but their impact on other types of PA, such as transport-related PA, is unclear. This study aims to fill a knowledge gap by determining the impact of an incentive-based strategy to increase transport-related PA by increasing PT use in a regional Australian setting. It is hypothesised that incentivising bus use will increase bus use and reduce motor vehicle use leading to PA gain.
Interventions
The trips4health study has a four month intervention phase followed by a six month maintenance phase. The four month intervention phase allows three months for behaviour change to reach automaticity and one month for maintenance or ‘tapering off’, where contact and support is gradually withdrawn in preparation for intervention cessation.Using a ‘gain-framed’ approach (i.e. rewarding positive behaviours), participants in the intervention group will have bus trip use targets from weeks 1-16 which
The trips4health study has a four month intervention phase followed by a six month maintenance phase. The four month intervention phase allows three months for behaviour change to reach automaticity and one month for maintenance or ‘tapering off’, where contact and support is gradually withdrawn in preparation for intervention cessation.Using a ‘gain-framed’ approach (i.e. rewarding positive behaviours), participants in the intervention group will have bus trip use targets from weeks 1-16 which escalate over the course of the intervention so that targets become more difficult to reach but incentive values increase (weekly bus trip targets are: weeks 1-2, one bus trip; weeks 3-4, two bus trips; weeks 5-8, three bus trips; weeks 9-11, four bus trips; weeks 12-16, 5 bus trips). If the bus trip target is met, participants receive bus trip credit (through their public transport smartcard). The credit received will be commensurate with the participant’s default fare type that they were required to set when applying for their smartcard. The price range of the different fare types is $1.92 to $5.76 (a concessional fare through to an adult fare with travel across multiple zones). The maximum credit a participant can receive by the end of the 16 week intervention phase is $105.60 if travelling on a concessional fare and if travelling as an adult either $154.00, $211.20 or $316.80 as per their default fare type. Participants will be aiming to achieve five bus trips per week by the end of the intervention. Participants will be notified by a weekly email whether they have met or have not met their target, the smartcard credit they have received (if any) and the following week’s target. There are no set targets for the distance walked to or from a bus stop. To assist participants to achieve the weekly targets and, consistent with best practice, incentives will be supported by other behaviour change techniques (e.g. information on consequences of behaviour to the individual, setting graded tasks, goal setting, social support), delivered via weekly mobile text messages (2 messages per week from weeks 1-12; 1 message per week from weeks 13-16). Development of the text messages was underpinned by the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy, informed by our previous qualitative work on transport behaviour and physical activity and from an incentive-based study designed to increase weekly leisure-time physical activity and reduce sitting time (Michie et al 2013, Ball et al 2017). Participants in the intervention group will also receive a printed version of Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. All intervention support will be provided by a member of the research team
Sponsors
University of Tasmania
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Greater than or equal to 18 years old; sufficient English proficiency to provide informed consent; living in Southern Tasmania; able to access an urban Tasmania bus service; making trips by motor vehicle that could be made by bus; current infrequent bus user (on average less than 3 trips per week in the past six months); possession or willingness to possess a public transport smartcard; willingness for the public transport provider and the researchers to access smartcard data; possession of a mobile phone
Exclusion criteria
Intending to move house or work location whereby an urban bus service in Southern Tasmania can no longer be accessed within the 10-month study period; currently engaged in or planning to engage in other incentive-based programs to enhance public transport use; pregnancy; a health condition that prevents walking; a health condition that prevents bus use; and a planned activity that would prevent bus use for greater than two weeks during the four month intervention phase of the 10 month study period e.g. surgery, extended holiday.
Outcome results
None listed