TAKing Steps for Incentives (TAKSI)

Duke University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity; Incentives

Treatments: Behavioral: Incentive-based physical activity program; Behavioral: 3-month follow up

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01892475

DPRT/AGE/2010/20

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test the overall effects of incentives on physical activity among older taxi drivers, and whether mental accounting exists in this context.

Full description

As part of the 4-month Randomized Controlled Trial, participating taxi drivers will be assigned to 1 of 2 groups where they will receive either cash or taxi rental credits for meeting specified monthly step goals measured via a step counter. Subsequently, for an additional 3 months, drivers will be incentivized to wear step counters to test if effects of the rewards are sustained once the reward is no longer in place. Effects will be quantified in terms of step activity; and in terms of changes in Body Mass Index (BMI), Resting Heart Rate (HR), Blood Pressure (BP), self-reported General Health, Health-Related Quality of Life (HR-QOL) and work productivity.

Enrollment: 314 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 75 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Must be a taxi driver who is a hirer, and who drives for at least 8 hours daily over 5 days
• Aged between 50 to 75
• English/Mandarin-speaking

Exclusion criteria

• Report difficulty doing 10 minutes of aerobic activities without stopping, walking up 10 stairs without stopping or performing basic activities of daily living
• Have any medical conditions that limit their ability to walk as a means of physical activity

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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314 participants in 2 patient groups

Cash Only (CO)

Experimental group

Description:

As part of the Incentive-based physical activity program, drivers assigned to the Cash Only (CO) arm will earn incentives in the form of cash for meeting specified monthly step goals from Months 1 to 4.

Treatment:

Behavioral: 3-month follow up

Behavioral: Incentive-based physical activity program

Mental-Accounting (MA) based

Experimental group

Description:

As part of the Incentive-based physical activity program, drivers assigned to the Mental-Accounting (MA) based arm will receive incentives in the form of taxi rental credits for meeting specified monthly step goals from Months 1 to 4.

Treatment:

Behavioral: 3-month follow up

Behavioral: Incentive-based physical activity program