Way to Be Active III (Framing Incentives)

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle

Treatments: Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Behavioral: Daily feedback

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02030119

819149

Details and patient eligibility

About

Employers are increasingly looking for opportunities to motivate sedentary employees to become more physically active. Workplace walking programs have had mixed success and typically show most improvement among participants that are already fairly active at a baseline. The goal of this study is to determine whether a financial incentive program can motivate sedentary employees to increase the number of steps they walk per day to meet a minimum threshold.

The primary outcome measure is the proportion of days a minimum activity of 7000 steps or more is achieved. Outcomes will be assessed each week for 3 months using incentives followed by 3 months of follow-up without incentives. Secondary outcomes will include the average steps walked per day.

Enrollment: 281 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 100 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Age greater than 18.
2. Participant will need an iPhone or Android smartphone to be able to use the Moves App for tracking steps

Exclusion criteria

1. A score of "high" on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) activity level scale
2. BMI less than 27
3. Pregnant or lactating
4. Participation in another physical activity study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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281 participants in 4 patient groups

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

The participant will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether the participant achieved their goal for the prior day.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily feedback

Gain Framing

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be told that they will earn money for each day they walk at least 7000 steps. Each participant will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether or not he/she achieved the goal for the prior day and can collect the earnings. Non-adherent participants will receive messages about how much they would have earned had they met their target step goal.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentives

Loss Framing

Experimental group

Description:

The participants will be told that their account has been credited a certain amount of money for the upcoming 30 days. However, for each day they do not meet their goal of at least 7000 steps, they will lose a small portion of that money. The participant will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether the participant achieved the goal for the prior day. Non-adherent participants will receive messages about how much the participant would have kept had they met the target step goal.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentives

Daily Lottery

Experimental group

Description:

Each participant will be entered into a lottery daily, but participants will only be eligible to collect their winnings if they walked at least 7000 steps the day before. Participants will receive either an email or text message (based on the participant's preference) stating whether or not they won the lottery and if they met their target step goal. If both occur, the participant will be told how much money he or she won. Non-adherent participants will receive messages about how much they would have won had they met the target step goal.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentives