Physical Activity Intervention Among College Students

Incorporating Wearable Technology Into Physical Activity Instructional Program: A Cluster Randomized Trial in University Settings

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03061357

Enrollment

187

Registered

2017-02-23

Start date

2015-08-06

Completion date

2016-12-31

Last updated

2017-02-23

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Physical Activity

Keywords

activity tracker, behavior change

Brief summary

This project was to examine the effects of incorporating modern wearable technology into the credit-based Physical Activity Instructional Program for promoting habitual levels of physical activity among college students.

Detailed description

This project was a cluster randomized trial examining the effects of utilizing a wearable activity tracker in a credit-based Physical Activity Instructional Program on promoting habitual levels of physical activity (PA) in college students. The project was conducted in a large public university located in the mid-south region of the US. The university offers more than one hundred 1-credit hour PAIPs per academic semester. Considering the pilot nature of the study, the target PAIPs was limited to those meeting the following inclusion criteria: 1) PAIP with a size of 30 students that generally show an approximately equal gender distribution; and 2) PAIP that delivers the principles and practice of individually tailored habitual activity plans. The investigators randomly selected 14 eligible PAIPs and assigned them into intervention (k=7) and control (k=7) groups. The outcome measures of interests were the changes in objectively and subjectively measured physical activity over an academic semester.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALActivity tracker

Misfit Flash (Misfit Wearables Co., Burlingame, CA) activity tracker

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Subject)

Masking description

All participants in both intervention and control arms were not disclosed to the specific purpose of the study in order to prevent the subject-expectancy effects on study outcomes.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* healthy college students who were enrolled in 1-credit physical activity instruction programs.

Exclusion criteria

* did not wish to participate; * have currently used their own wearable activity tracker; * indicated any major physical, psychiatric, or cardiovascular-related problems diagnosed by a physician.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change from baseline in objectively measured physical activity to 15 weeks	baseline and 15 weeks	Physical activity was objectively measured using an ActiGraph Actitrainer (ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) accelerometer.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change from baseline in subjectively measured physical activity	baseline and 15 weeks	Physical activity was subjectively measured using International Physical Activity Questionnaire.

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026