Social and Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Veterans

VA Office of Research and Development

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity

Treatments: Behavioral: Social Incentive Gamification; Behavioral: Financial Incentive; Behavioral: Support Sponsor

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT03563027

CDX 18-003

HX-001922-01 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this randomized, controlled trial the investigators will compare the use of social and financial incentive-based interventions to increase physical activity among overweight and obese Veterans during a 12-week intervention with 8 weeks of follow-up.

Full description

In this 3-arm randomized trial, the investigators will compare the effectiveness of a social incentive-based gamification intervention with and without loss-framed financial incentives to increase physical activity relative to a control among overweight and obese adults Veterans. All Veterans will use a Fitbit wearable device to establish a baseline step count, select a step goal increase of 33% to 50% above baseline and then participate in a 12-week intervention and 8-week follow-up period. The two intervention arms will be entered into a game with points and levels designed using insights from behavioral economics. They will be asked to select a social support partner who will receive weekly updates on their progress in the game. Veterans in one arm will also receive loss-framed financial incentives allocated to an account each week during the intervention and financial incentives taken away each day the step goal was not achieved.

Enrollment: 180 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Veterans
• Body mass index of 25 or greater
• Access to smartphone or tablet to sync wearable device data
• Interest in participating in a 20-week physical activity program

Exclusion criteria

• Already participating in a physical activity research study
• Unable to provide informed consent
• Unsafe or infeasible to participate
• No access to smartphone or table to sync wearable device data

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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180 participants in 3 patient groups

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

This arm serves as control and uses a wearable device to track daily step counts

Social Incentive Gamification

Experimental group

Description:

This arm uses a wearable device to track daily step counts, is entered into social incentive gamification, and selects a support sponsor

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social Incentive Gamification

Behavioral: Support Sponsor

Social Incentive Gamification and Financial Incentive

Experimental group

Description:

This arm uses a wearable device to track daily step counts, is entered into social incentive gamification, selects a support sponsor, and receives a financial incentive

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social Incentive Gamification

Behavioral: Financial Incentive

Behavioral: Support Sponsor