Physical Activity, Social Media
Conditions
Keywords
Twitter, social support, internet intervention, sedentary lifestyle, walking, behavior change
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a Twitter-based intervention with a private, online support group can significantly increase number of walking steps compared to self-monitoring of physical activity alone or a control group in sedentary women at a women's heart clinic.
Detailed description
Sedentary behavior is a risk factor for heart disease, independent of meeting physical activity guidelines. Tweet4Wellness is an innovative light physical activity, specifically walking, intervention which randomly assigns participants to a 25-person private, online support group that will receive daily, theory-based messages as peer-to-peer discussion prompts. Many text-based interventions do not base the intervention text messages in behavior change theory, but this study will base the daily messages in the behavior change theories such as implementation intentions, social support, mindfulness, and social learning theory. The trial will be conducted over a 6-month periods. For the first 3 months, there will be 2 groups: Group 1 will receive the Twitter intervention and a Fitbit triaxial pedometer to track their steps throughout the day; Group 2 will receive the Fitbit pedometer only. For the second 3 months: Group 1 an Group 2 will track their physical activity with Fitbit only.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALTweet4Wellness
A daily, behavior change theory-based intervention message is sent to a private, 25-person online Twitter-support group to prompt peer-to-peer discussion. Participants receive individual text messages to encourage group participation (e.g. 'thank you for participating' or 'please participate tomorrow'). Participants also receive weekly individual messages giving them daily step goals for the week based on their previous week's daily step average, recorded from Fitbit.
BEHAVIORALSelf-monitoring
A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.
Sponsors
Stanford University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Are a woman * Are over 18 years of age * Are English speaking * Have or are willing to purchase a mobile phone with a camera * Have or are willing to purchase an unlimited text plan * Are willing to participate in daily tweets or texts for up to 3 months * Have an active email account * Have internet access on your mobile phone * Use or are familiar with Facebook, Twitter, or other social media * Text at least weekly
Exclusion criteria
* Have certain symptoms or conditions that would not be conducive to increasing your physical activity as determined by your physician * Are planning on becoming pregnant in the next 8 months * If our screening survey indicates that you are already adequately physically active * Do not provide all required personal contact information
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in steps (physical activity) | Baseline to 3 months and 6 months | Steps measured by triaxial accelerometer |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Support Group Engagement during the intervention | 3 months | Measured by # of Tweets per day sent to the group |
| average length of prolonged sedentary periods per day | baseline to 3 months and 6 months | average length of uninterrupted sedentary periods per day over a seven day period |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed