Physical Activity and Social-media Support (PASS)

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Status: Completed

Conditions: Trust

Treatments: Behavioral: Research study Instagram account; Behavioral: Influencer Instagram account

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04744077

IRB-21-8

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is a 3-arm randomized intervention to provide exercise education through Instagram. The primary outcome is trust in the content presented.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 14 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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+

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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14 participants in 3 patient groups

Control

Sham Comparator group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Influencer Instagram account

Student

Experimental group

Description:

Student Co-PI will manage this Instagram account created for the study. Although the student is a Kinesiology student and works within the health field, she will not disclose this information on the account. Instead, she will present herself as a general college student. By withholding her major and career aspirations, we hope to get unbiased feedback on what participants think about the content being presented. The content presented will be identical to study arm #3.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Research study Instagram account

Scientist

Experimental group

Description:

The PI will manage this Instagram account created for the study. The PI is a certified exercise physiologist and holds a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences. She will disclose this information on the account. This group is the study's "gold standard" because it will provide evidence-based content delivered by an exercise scientist.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Research study Instagram account