Trust
Conditions
Keywords
social media, physical activity, exercise
Brief summary
This study is a 3-arm randomized intervention to provide exercise education through Instagram. The primary outcome is trust in the content presented.
Detailed description
Social media is an interpersonal-level technology that can provide physical activity support through social support and behavioral education. One popular social media platform is Instagram. However, there is limited data on whether participants trust the content delivered through this platform. There is also limited information on whether the social-media account holder plays a role in the acceptance of the content. The purpose of the proposed study is to determine participants perceptions of physical activity related information and social media account. The design for this study is a 3-arm randomized intervention through Instagram. Participants (n=60) will be randomized to one of three Instagram accounts (control, student, and scientist). Recruitment will be on a rolling basis for 2 months; once participants are deemed eligible, they will be enrolled for 4-weeks and will receive a weekly questionnaire to determine their perceptions. Participants will also be encouraged to participate in follow-up questionnaires at 2 and 3 months.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALInfluencer Instagram account
Participants randomized to this group will follow a public Instagram account. This account was chosen because they have a strong following (over 600,000 followers) and it is a public account that anyone can follow. The content shared on this page is motivational and community driven. There is a focus of healthy living with an emphasis on exercise. Additionally, there are no paid sponsorships or radical exercise advice, which is common on other influencer pages. The Co-PIs determined that this page accurately represents the exercise-related content that is readily available on Instagram. The research team will not have control over the content of this account, but the account holder will be notified about the study.
BEHAVIORALResearch study Instagram account
Intervention arms will deliver the same exercise-related content on the same schedule on the intervention Instagram accounts. The arms will deliver 13-weeks worth of content which goes through the last possible day of the intervention. The structure was based on feedback from stakeholders in a formative focus group. All of the content delivered through the accounts is evidence-based and referenced from reputation organizations/agencies such as the American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, Center for Disease Control, and World Health Organization. Each Co-PI will post videos to answer participant questions. To ensure that the content between both groups is the same, the Co-PIs will meet to determine which questions to answer and draft the response.
Sponsors
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* 18 years and older * less than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week * active Instagram account
Exclusion criteria
* physical activity is inadvisable based on the PAR-Q+
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Self-reported trust in Instagram content assessed with a likert scale | 4-weeks | Participant trust in the content presented on the Instagram account using a 10-point scale where 1 is low trust and 10 is high trust |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Physical activity measured by the IPAQ | 4-weeks | self-reported total physical activity MET\*minutes/week |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed