Social Goals and Individual Incentives to Promote Walking in Older Adults

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity

Treatments: Behavioral: Personal financial incentives & social goals; Behavioral: daily pedometer use and weekly feedback; Behavioral: Social Goal; Behavioral: Financial incentive

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01643538

69924

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this randomized and controlled trial is to test whether a financial incentive of a donation to achieve a social goal is more effective to motivate and sustain a daily walking habit than the same dollar value given to an older adult. The investigators will achieve this using a novel computer platform utilizing a digital pedometer-internet interface.

Enrollment: 94 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult 65 years of age and older
• Can read and speak English
• Access to a personal computer with high-speed internet connection and functional Universal Serial Bus (USB) port for the study duration
• Able to walk 1/4 mile (i.e., 2 to 3 blocks) without stopping
• No pedometer use in last 30 days

Exclusion criteria

Major medical conditions including:

• serious heart and lung diseases
• diabetes requiring insulin therapy
• severe arthritis
• neurologic disorders
• dementia
• heavy alcohol use
• recent knee or spinal surgery

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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94 participants in 4 patient groups

Control Arm

Active Comparator group

Description:

Daily use of pedometer for 5 months. Walking goal set based on level of walking during 2-week run-in period. Weekly feedback provided on meeting walking goal - defined as achieving goal number of steps for 5 of 7 days per week. Subjects in the Control Group will only receive pedometers and weekly feedback on their performance through the same mechanisms and with the same frequency as participants in the other three study arms. There will be no financial incentives or charity donations in this group.

Treatment:

Behavioral: daily pedometer use and weekly feedback

Personal Financial Incentives Arm

Experimental group

Description:

Daily use of pedometer for 5 months. Walking goal set based on level of walking during 2-week run-in period. Weekly feedback provided on meeting walking goal - defined as achieving goal number of steps for 5 of 7 days per week. Each week, if pedometer is used and walking goal is met for 5 out of 7 days, participant will receive $20. Financial incentive is terminated after 4 months. Daily use of pedometer continues for an additional 4 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Financial incentive

Behavioral: daily pedometer use and weekly feedback

Social Goals Arm

Experimental group

Description:

Daily use of pedometer for 5 months. Walking goal set based on level of walking during 2-week run-in period. Weekly feedback provided on meeting walking goal - defined as achieving goal number of steps for 5 of 7 days per week. Each week participants will be asked to designate which charity should receive a donation if they meet or exceed their goal. If they meet the goal, they will be notified that a donation of $20 in their name has been sent to the charity. Charity donation is terminated after 4 months. Daily use of pedometer continues for an additional 4 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social Goal

Behavioral: daily pedometer use and weekly feedback

Combined Financial Incentives & Social Goals Arm

Experimental group

Description:

Daily use of pedometer for 5 months. Walking goal set based on level of walking during 2-week run-in period. Weekly feedback provided on meeting walking goal - defined as achieving goal number of steps for 5 of 7 days per week. Each week, the participant will be asked to choose whether to keep, give, or split the reward, if they meet or exceed their goal. If they choose to send some of the money to charity, they will be asked to identify a charity to which they would like to donate the payment. If they meet their goal, they will receive money and/or be notified that a donation of the selected amount has been sent to the charity, depending on their selected preference. Incentives are terminated after 4 months. Daily use of pedometer continues for an additional 4 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: daily pedometer use and weekly feedback

Behavioral: Personal financial incentives & social goals