Way to Be Active V (Framing vs. Forgiveness)

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle

Treatments: Behavioral: Daily Feedback; Behavioral: Feedback compared to 75th percentile; Behavioral: Financial Incentive; Behavioral: Forgiveness

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02030132

819370

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: 288 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 100 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

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

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnant or lactating
• Participating in another physical activity study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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288 participants in 4 patient groups

Feedback 50th Percentile

Active Comparator group

Description:

At the end of each week, participants will be told (by email or text, based on the participant's preference) the team's average daily step count for the previous week based on all 7 days. They will also be told the average for the 50th percentile in their arm. If the team's average daily step count is ≥ 7000 steps, the team will be eligible for the weekly lottery.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily Feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentive

Feedback 75th Percentile

Experimental group

Description:

At the end of each week, participants will be told (by email or text, based on the participant's preference) the team's average daily step count for the previous week based on all 7 days. They will also be told the average for the 75th percentile in their arm. If the team's average daily step count is ≥ 7000 steps, the team will be eligible for the weekly lottery.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily Feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentive

Behavioral: Feedback compared to 75th percentile

Feedback 50th Percentile + Forgiveness

Experimental group

Description:

At the end of each week, participants will be told (by email or text, based on the participant's preference) the average team's average daily step count for the previous week based on the best 5 of 7 days. They will also be told the average for the 50th percentile in their arm. If the team's average daily step count (best 5 of 7 days) is ≥ 7000 steps, the team will be eligible for the weekly lottery.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily Feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentive

Behavioral: Forgiveness

Feedback 75th Percentile + Forgiveness

Experimental group

Description:

At the end of each week, participants will be told (by email or text, based on the participant's preference) the team's average daily step count for the previous week based on the best 5 of 7 days. They will also be told the average for the 75th percentile in their arm. If the team's average daily step count (best 5 of 7 days) is ≥ 7000 steps, the team will be eligible for the weekly lottery.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily Feedback

Behavioral: Financial Incentive

Behavioral: Feedback compared to 75th percentile

Behavioral: Forgiveness