Physical Activity
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim of this research is to evaluate the impacts of an intervention that reminds people of the affective rewards of exercise on physical activity in adults of any activity level
Detailed description
The Feel the Move study tests the effects of a lightweight text-message based intervention to increase physical activity and affective attitudes towards exercise. The intervention being investigated is text messages that prime expected affective rewards of exercise, sent in advance of a time window during which participants made plans to exercise. At the start of the study, participants will write sentences about feeling good after exercise (which will be used as part of the intervention) and complete baseline questionnaires about their feelings towards exercise. For the next nine weeks, participants will be asked to plan two exercise sessions a week, and will be given a questionnaire after the time window of their planned exercise sessions to assess how it went. At the onset of each time window for their planned exercise session, participants will be micro-randomized to receive one of the following intervention options: no-message; a text message reminding them to fill out the study questionnaires; or a message about the affective rewards of exercise. The messages about affective rewards will be a mix of sentences participants wrote themselves during the baseline assessment and reflective prompts from the research team. At the nine-week mark, participants will again complete the same questionnaires about their feelings towards exercise that they initially completed at baseline. Throughout the study, participants will share data about their activity, including steps and calories burned, with the research team. These data will be automatically collected by the HIPAA-compliant CareEvolution platform from participants' Apple Watches. After the nine weeks of the study participation, a random sample of study participants will be asked to participate in exit interviews to share more details about their experiences with the intervention. The primary hypothesis is that participants will burn more calories during their planned exercise periods when they receive messages about the affective rewards of exercise vs. when they do not. Researchers will also conduct secondary analyses examining the effects of the intervention on feelings towards exercise and qualitative data from the interviews.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALAffective Rewards Messages
Messages about the affective rewards of exercise
Sponsors
University of Michigan
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
At each decision point-operationalized as the beginning of the time window during which a participant planned to exercise-each participant will be randomized to receive one of three intervention options: active intervention (text messages aimed to prime expectations of emotional rewards of exercise), a control message (a reminder that they will receive a study questionnaire later in the day), or no intervention.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* lives in the US * 18 years old or older * desires to increase activity through structured exercise * has an iPhone that can send/receive text messages and an Apple Watch
Exclusion criteria
* medically advised not to exercise
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Calories burned in planned exercise session | 4 hours | Calories burned during the four-hour time window when participants planned to exercise |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change from Baseline Expected Post-exercise affect at 9 weeks | At study completion, 9 weeks after enrollment | Participants will be asked question about their expected post-exercise affect at the beginning and end of the 9 week study |
| Change from Baseline in other affective attitude measures at 9 weeks | At study completion, 9 weeks after enrollment | Participants will be asked additional questions about their affective attitudes towards and valuations of exercise at the beginning and end of the 9 week study |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed