Using Social Connectedness to Increase Physical Activity

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04573972

Enrollment

172

Registered

2020-10-05

Start date

2020-09-30

Completion date

2021-01-04

Last updated

2024-03-28

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

Conditions

Activity, Motor, Social Isolation

Keywords

incentives

Brief summary

A randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness of social incentives relative to traditional incentives in promoting walking behavior among college students (N=200). Participants who are rewarded for walking together will be compared to those who are rewarded for walking even when alone. Research participants will download activity tracking apps (Fitbit app and AWARE app) that provide activity and location data. Participants will be consented and then randomized to one of two incentive schemes for walking. Over a 2-week intervention period, the standard incentive group will earn $2 per day when they meet their walking goal regardless of whether they walk alone or with others. The social incentive group will earn $1 per day when they reach their walking goal plus an additional $1 when they walk at least 2000 steps with their walking partner. The incentive scheme will be in place for 2-weeks, preceded by a 1-week baseline period and followed by a 2-week follow-up period.

Detailed description

The objective of the study is to test whether social incentives that encourage physical activity with another person are more effective than incentives for individual exercise. Physical inactivity and social isolation are growing epidemics linked to increased morbidity and mortality particularly among aging Americans. This research aims to address both problems by encouraging co-productive physical activities among college students. Co-productive physical activity mean anything involving physical activity that two people can do together, e.g., walking their dogs or shopping together. Additionally, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, walking together in this study means either walking while communicating digitally or over the phone, or by physically walking together while wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart, and following the recommendations from health professionals. A small randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness of social incentives relative to traditional incentives in promoting walking behavior. Participants who are rewarded for walking together will be compared to those who are rewarded for walking even when alone. The results will indicate whether social incentives are more motivating than traditional incentives for walking behavior.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALSocial Incentive

Receiving half the monetary incentive conditional on meeting a step goal and half the monetary incentive conditional on walking together

BEHAVIORALStandard Incentive

Receiving the full monetary incentive conditional on meeting a step goal and not conditional on walking together

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Masking description

The primary outcome is steps walked, as assessed via the Fitbit app, which is blind to study condition.

Intervention model description

Two group, between-subjects design

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Age 18+ * Able to read and understand English-language surveys * Own either iPhone or Android smartphones * Willing to carry the smart phone during the study period and to respond to daily texts or emails from the study team * Registered for the study as a dyad (friend pairs), with one member of the dyad a Carnegie Mellon University student

Exclusion criteria

• Contraindications for increased physical activity

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change in Score on University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (Survey Measure)	week 5	20-item scale measuring subjective feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Minimum score = 0; maximum score = 60; higher scores indicate more loneliness. We computed the difference in score from baseline (beginning of week 1) to end of study (end of week 5).
Change in Mean Daily Steps Walked From Baseline Period (Week 1) to Follow-up Period (Weeks 4-5)	week 4-5	Change in mean daily steps walked from baseline to follow-up period, as recorded on the FitBit app
Mean Number of Days Met Daily Step Goal During Intervention Period (Weeks 2-3) Minus Mean Number of Days Met Same Level of Walking in Baseline Period (Week 1)	week 2-3	Mean number of days when an individual's number of steps walked was at or above daily goal during the intervention period (weeks 2 & 3) minus the mean number of days the individual's number of step's walking was at or above that same level during the baseline period (week 1)
Mean Number of Days Met Daily Step Goal During Follow-up Period (Weeks 4-5) Minus Mean Number of Days Met Same Level of Walking in Baseline Period (Week 1)	week 4-5	Mean number of days when an individual's number of steps walked was at or above daily goal during the follow-up period (weeks 4 & 5) minus the mean number of days the individual's number of step's walking was at or above that same level during the baseline period (week 1)
Change in Mean Daily Steps Walked From Baseline Period (Week 1) to Intervention Period (Weeks 2 and 3)	week 2-3	Change in mean daily steps walked from baseline (week 1) to intervention period (weeks 2 and 3), as recorded on the FitBit app

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Fraction of Days Participant Walked Together With Partner (Self Report) During Follow-up Period (Weeks 4-5)	week 4-5	Fraction of days with self report of walking at least 2,000 steps with another participant during follow-up period (weeks 3-5)
Proportion of Days Participant Walked Together With Partner (Coded)	week 2-3	A machine learning (ML) algorithm will compare the walking records from the Aware app of each dyad of participants and assess whether they walked together on each day
Fraction of Days Participant Walked Together With Partner (Self Report) During Intervention Period (Weeks 2-3)	week 2-3	Fraction of days with self report of walking at least 2,000 steps with another participant during intervention period (weeks 2-3)

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Recruitment details

Note: all number shown here represent individual participants (not dyads).

Participants by arm

Arm	Count
Regular Incentive During the two-week intervention period, the standard incentive group will earn $2 per day when they meet their step goal, and this reward is earned regardless of whether they walk alone or with others. Standard Incentive: Receiving the full monetary incentive conditional on meeting a step goal and not conditional on walking together	56
Social Incentive During the two-week intervention period, he social incentive group will earn $1 per day when they meet their step goal and an additional $1 if they walk 2,000 steps together with another study participant. Social Incentive: Receiving half the monetary incentive conditional on meeting a step goal and half the monetary incentive conditional on walking together	70
Total	126

Withdrawals & dropouts

Period	Reason	FG000	FG001
Overall Study	Dyad partner did not join study or did not walk >0 steps	32	14

Baseline characteristics

Characteristic	Regular Incentive	Social Incentive	Total
Age, Continuous	21.77 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 8.34	20.16 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 5.67	20.87 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 7
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Hispanic or Latino	5 Participants	2 Participants	7 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Not Hispanic or Latino	51 Participants	68 Participants	119 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported	0 Participants	0 Participants	0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) American Indian or Alaska Native	0 Participants	0 Participants	0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Asian	31 Participants	48 Participants	79 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Black or African American	2 Participants	2 Participants	4 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) More than one race	2 Participants	4 Participants	6 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0 Participants	0 Participants	0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported	2 Participants	2 Participants	4 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) White	19 Participants	14 Participants	33 Participants
Sex/Gender, Customized Gender female	35 Participants	44 Participants	79 Participants
Sex/Gender, Customized Gender male	21 Participants	20 Participants	41 Participants
Sex/Gender, Customized Gender other	0 Participants	5 Participants	5 Participants
Sex/Gender, Customized Gender prefer not to answer	0 Participants	1 Participants	1 Participants

Adverse events

Event type	EG000 affected / at risk	EG001 affected / at risk
deaths Total, all-cause mortality	0 / 88	0 / 84
other Total, other adverse events	0 / 88	0 / 84
serious Total, serious adverse events	0 / 88	0 / 84

Outcome results

Primary