A Smartphone-based Intervention to Promote an Active Lifestyle in Low Educated Working Young Adults

University Ghent

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity

Treatments: Behavioral: smartphone based intervention with Active Coach app

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02948803

11U8114N

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this smartphone-based intervention study is to determine whether a newly developed app is effective in promoting an active lifestyle in low educated working young adults.

Full description

A stepwise approach was used to develop a new native Android smartphone app (Active Coach). This app aims to promote an active lifestyle (through physical activity and active transport) in low educated working young adults. The development of this app is based on theory, evidence and user's experiences. The app focuses on four determinants (knowledge, attitude (perceived benefits and perceived barriers), social support and self-efficacy) and includes several behavioral change techniques (self-monitoring, goal-setting, feedback on behavior, review behavior goals, instruction on how to perform the behavior, information about health consequences, enhancing network linkages and prompts/cues). Furthermore, the app works in combinations with a wearable activity tracker (Fitbit Charge) to track users activity behavior.

For the smartphone-based intervention, 120 low educated working young adults are being recruited via purposeful convenience sampling though companies and employers. Participants can not have any medical conditions that prevent them from being physically active and they need to own an Android smartphone. Fitbit Charge activity trackers will be provided. The participants will be randomly divided in the intervention group or the standard information control group. The intervention period will be nine weeks. At the beginning and the end of the intervention period, physical activity levels will be objectively measured with accelerometers. Follow-up measurements will be conducted 12 weeks after the end of the intervention period.

Enrollment: 130 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 28 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• between 18 and 28 years old
• low educated (maximum secondary school, no higher education (university or college)
• employed
• dutch speaking
• owning an Android smartphone

Exclusion criteria

• being very physically active (already reaching the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity a day)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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130 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

smartphone based intervention with Active Coach app: participants in the intervention group will use a newly developed smartphone app in combination with a Fitbit Charge activity tracker for 9 weeks. The app aims to promote an active lifestyle.

Treatment:

Behavioral: smartphone based intervention with Active Coach app

control group

No Intervention group

Description:

participants in the control groups only receive a flyer with standard information about an active lifestyle