Charge: A Text Messaging-based Weight Loss Intervention

NCT03254940 | Completed Results DMC

• 1 other identifier: D0752
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 534
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study evaluates different versions of a text messaging-based app for weight loss. This study will place participants to 1 of 32 experimental conditions that reflect different texting components and levels. Participants will be randomized to a condition. The investigators will recruit 448 adults into a 6-month weight loss program, with an additional follow-up 6-months after the intervention ends.

Conditions

Weight Loss; Obesity

Keywords

text message; digital health; weight loss; personalized

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Average Weight Change

  Mean change in weight in kg (6 months post-randomization- baseline weight)

  baseline, 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Diet

  baseline, 6 months

• Average Change in Physical Activity

  baseline, 6 months

Study Arms (32)

Arm 1: WT-SM-OR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 2: WT-SM-OR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 3: WT-SM-OR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 4: WT-SM-OR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 5: WT-SM-MR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to self.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 6: WT-SM-MR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to group.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 7: WT-SM-MR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific feedback, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 8: WT-SM-MR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific feedback, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 9: WT-EM-OR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 10: WT-EM-OR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 11: WT-EM-OR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 12: WT-EM-OR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to group.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 13: WT-EM-MR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 14: WT-EM-MR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders,summary score, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 15: WT-EM-MR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific goal feedback, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 16: WT-EM-MR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: weekly tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific goal feedback, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 17: DT-SM-OR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to self.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 18: DT-SM-OR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 19: DT-SM-OR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to self.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 20: DT-SM-OR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 21: DT-SM-MR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 22: DT-SM-MR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to group.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 23: DT-SM-MR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific goal feedback, compare to self.

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 24: DT-SM-MR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, self-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific goal feedback, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 25: DT-EM-OR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 26: DT-EM-OR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, summary score, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 27: DT-EM-OR-SF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 28: DT-EM-OR-SF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, one reminder, specific goal feedback, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 29: DT-EM-MR-SS-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 30: DT-EM-MR-SS-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, summary score, compare to group

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 31: DT-EM-MR-GF-CS

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific goal feedback, compare to self

Behavioral: Charge

Arm 32: DT-EM-MR-GF-CG

EXPERIMENTAL

Charge: daily tracking, expert-generated motivational messages, multiple reminders, specific goal feedback, compare to group.

Behavioral: Charge

Interventions

Charge BEHAVIORAL

Text messaging-based study to determine effect of different components on weight loss.

Arm 10: WT-EM-OR-SS-CG; Arm 11: WT-EM-OR-SF-CS; Arm 12: WT-EM-OR-SF-CG; Arm 13: WT-EM-MR-SS-CS; Arm 14: WT-EM-MR-SS-CG; Arm 15: WT-EM-MR-SF-CS; Arm 16: WT-EM-MR-SF-CG; Arm 17: DT-SM-OR-SS-CS; Arm 18: DT-SM-OR-SS-CG; Arm 19: DT-SM-OR-SF-CS; Arm 1: WT-SM-OR-SS-CS; Arm 20: DT-SM-OR-SF-CG; Arm 21: DT-SM-MR-SS-CS; Arm 22: DT-SM-MR-SS-CG; Arm 23: DT-SM-MR-SF-CS; Arm 24: DT-SM-MR-SF-CG; Arm 25: DT-EM-OR-SS-CS; Arm 26: DT-EM-OR-SS-CG; Arm 27: DT-EM-OR-SF-CS; Arm 28: DT-EM-OR-SF-CG; Arm 29: DT-EM-MR-SS-CS; Arm 2: WT-SM-OR-SS-CG; Arm 30: DT-EM-MR-SS-CG; Arm 31: DT-EM-MR-GF-CS; Arm 32: DT-EM-MR-GF-CG; Arm 3: WT-SM-OR-SF-CS; Arm 4: WT-SM-OR-SF-CG; Arm 5: WT-SM-MR-SS-CS; Arm 6: WT-SM-MR-SS-CG; Arm 7: WT-SM-MR-SF-CS; Arm 8: WT-SM-MR-SF-CG; Arm 9: WT-EM-OR-SS-CS

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• males and females aged 18-65 years
• participants have English language proficiency
• participants have a BMI between 25-40 kg/m2
• Participants will own a smartphone
• Participants will be willing to receive multiple text messages daily.

You may not qualify if:

• prior or planned bariatric surgery
• psychiatric hospitalization in past 12 months
• pregnancy, nursing, or planned pregnancy
• history of a cardiovascular event
• history of an eating disorder
• history of a condition (e.g., end stage renal disease, cancer, schizophrenia) or use of medications (e.g., lithium, steroids, anti-psychotics) that would affect weight measurement, for which weight loss is contraindicated, or might promote weight change
• current participation in a weight loss trial and/or recent weight loss \> 10%
• investigator discretion for safety reasons

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Duke University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina, 27708, United States

Location

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MeSH Terms

Conditions

Weight Loss; Obesity

Interventions

Fees and Charges

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Body Weight Changes; Body Weight; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Overweight; Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Economics; Health Care Economics and Organizations

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Gary G. Bennett (PI/Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences)
• Organization: Duke University

gary.bennett@duke.edu

(919) 808-7821

Study Officials

• Gary G Bennett, PhD

  Bishop-MacDermott Family Professor of Psychology, Global Health & Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The investigators will use a full factorial design to randomize participants to experimental conditions that reflect the texting intervention components: motivational messaging (self- vs expert-generated), texting frequency (daily vs weekly), reminders (one reminder v. multiple reminders), feedback type (summary score v. specific feedback) and comparison unit (to self v. to a group of people). The full factorial design is power efficient, logistically feasible (because we manipulate conditions using technology) and will allow the investigators to examine the most important main and interaction effects among components.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 12, 2017
• First Posted: August 21, 2017
• Study Start: January 31, 2018
• Primary Completion: June 29, 2019
• Study Completion: January 31, 2023
• Last Updated: April 10, 2025
• Results First Posted: April 10, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)