Counterfactual Strategies, Physical Activity, and Wearable Trackers

NCT05192226 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: IRB2021-1492
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 40
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Physical activity (PA) has been suggested to lower one's risk of developing cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. While there are benefits from engaging in PA, many people do not engage in enough daily PA, thus increasing the chance of developing non-communicable diseases (NCD). Some NCDs, such as type 2 diabetes, have been shown to occur at higher rates within under-resourced populations, such as low socioeconomic status (SES) communities. Among low-SES communities, external barriers, such as cost and the surrounding physical environment, have been shown to impact engagement in PA. A multi-level PA intervention could be beneficial to help lower NCD health outcomes within at-risk groups, as well as serve as a means to further understand the barriers impeding a healthy lifestyle. At the individual level, past behavior is suggested to be a significant predictor of future behavior. When faced with a NCD diagnosis, one might think about the past and how things could have turned out differently (i.e., counterfactual thinking). For instance, what if a different action had been taken (e.g., "If only I had taken the stairs more at work")? Counterfactuals can also serve as a way of identifying causal links (e.g., "If only there were more green spaces in my area..."). Counterfactuals (CF) on behaviors that can be acted on can facilitate future behavior change by increasing intentions, motivation, and self-efficacy. In this way, CFs might help with 1) breaking a habitual sedentary cycle and 2) identify causal pathways of barriers impacting PA engagement. While preliminary data in the investigators lab suggests that CF strategies are relevant for heightening contemplation to change behaviors and intentions to change behaviors its impact on motivation and self-efficacy remains unknown. Additionally, these preliminary studies were conducted using small, undergraduate student sample, thus generalizability to low-SES individuals living in the surrounding community is unknown. For the proposed study, participants will use CFs to target barriers in different domains and levels of influence impeding PA. This identification effort will be used to work towards increasing PA behavior (collected by wearable fitness trackers). CFs will also be used to work towards increasing psychological domains relevant to behavior change over the span of 14 weeks.

Conditions

Financial Stress; Socioeconomic Status; Social Status

Keywords

low-socioeconomic status; Physical activity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Fitbit Active Zone Minutes

  As per the description by Fitbit, "...earn Active Zone Minutes for time spent in the fat burn, cardio, or peak heart-rate zones. To help you maximize your time, you earn 2 Active Zone Minutes for each minute you're in the cardio or peak zones. Heart-rate zones are personalized based on your fitness level and age." The tracker will record when the participant enters each personalized target heart rate zone. The Fitbit device automatically adds up the Active Zone Minutes per day and per week. The device registers 1 zone minute per minute spent in the Fat Burn zone, and 2 zone minutes per minute spent in Cardio or Peak zones.

  Weekly (14 weeks); collected every day via the Fitbit device for the 14-week duration of the study. Will assess weekly change over the course of the 14 week period.

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Contemplation Ladder

  Weekly (14 weeks); occurring once a week for study weeks 1 through 14.

• Physical Activity Self-Efficacy

  Weekly (14 weeks); occurring once a week for study weeks 1 through 14.

• Physical Activity Motivation

  Weekly (14 weeks); occurring once a week for study weeks 1 through 14.

• Physical Activity Intentions

  Weekly (14 weeks); occurring once a week for study weeks 1 through 14.

Study Arms (2)

Counterfactual Strategy Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

After participants finish describing past events where they were unable to participate or engage in physical activity and have identified barriers which impacted their events they just described, participants will be randomly assigned to conditions. Participants in the counterfactual strategy condition will engage in counterfactual strategies on barriers they believe they could have reasonably acted on to increase physical activity in their described event(s) that would have led to a better outcome. After identifying the counterfactual strategies, participants will then select three counterfactual strategies they just identified that they could use at some point in the upcoming week, any obstacles to using that counterfactual strategy, ways to overcome those obstacles, their intention to use the counterfactual strategy over the next week, and how likely they think the counterfactual strategy would have happened and led to the better outcome.

Behavioral: Counterfactual Strategy

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will be asked to describe past events where they were unable to participate or engage in physical activity. All participants will walk through the NIMHD framework with a researcher and be guided to identify barriers at various domains and levels of influence, which impacted their events they just described. After barrier identification, participants will be asked to select three barriers to talk aloud and list out additional details about the barriers identified.

Interventions

Counterfactual Strategy BEHAVIORAL

Participants in this intervention condition will think about their past and identify how a less than desirable physical activity event could have turned out better using counterfactual thinking (i.e., If only I... then....). After identifying actions they could have taken to reach a better outcome in their physical activity event, they will then apply those thoughts to the future upcoming week so they can be realized.

Also known as: Counterfactual thinking, The functional theory of counterfactual thinking

Counterfactual Strategy Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• years old or older
• access to the internet
• has a smartphone capable of syncing with a Fitbit Inspire 2 via Bluetooth
• and must report low SES by indicating a response of 7 or higher on the Subjective SES Ladder

You may not qualify if:

• Having any physical or cognitive impairment that would impact one's ability to engage in low to moderate levels of exercise
• Must not currently be participating or plan to participate in similar studies or programs.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas A&M University: lead
• U.S. National Science Foundation: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Texas A&M University

College Station, Texas, 77843, United States

Location

Related Publications (19)

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  BACKGROUND

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  BACKGROUND

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  BACKGROUND

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  BACKGROUND

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  BACKGROUND

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  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Financial Stress; Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Rachel E Smallman, PhD

  Texas A&M University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 20, 2021
• First Posted: January 14, 2022
• Study Start: March 30, 2022
• Primary Completion: December 19, 2022
• Study Completion: December 19, 2022
• Last Updated: April 12, 2023

Record last verified: 2021-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR
• Time Frame: All study materials and protocol will be available upon study completion and completion of initial analysis plan.
• Access Criteria: Researchers with a registered OSF account.

Locations

US (1)