Investigating Two Prototype Mobile App Interventions to Increase Physical Activity

NCT06372275 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 0000
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 70
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This randomized control trial aims to investigate whether writing about personal values helps enhance motivation to engage in physical activity, relative to general self-reflective writing. This study will help to (1) assess whether values clarification leads to increased motivation to engage in physical activity, greater stability in motivation, and improvements in engagement in physical activity and valued action, relative to engaging in self-reflection, (2) determine if the impact of values clarification on these outcomes vary depending on context (e.g., positive/negative affect, psychological inflexibility, stressful events), (3) explore whether values clarification procedures that employ distinct relational frames (hierarchical, conditional, distinction, and deictic) differentially impact motivation to engage in physical activity, and daily engagement in physical activity, and (4) explore whether the impact of values clarification vary depending on baseline self-compassion and/or intrinsic/extrinsic motivation.

Conditions

Health-Related Behavior

Keywords

Physical Activity; Exercise; Values Clarification; Self-Reflection; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; Mobile App; Motivation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) - Total physical activity

  A self-report scale that measures physical activity. The IPAQ comprises 27 items that assess time spent engaging in various levels of physical activity / time spent sitting and participants are asked to report their responses in terms of minutes, hours, or days. Scores can be computed continuously or categorically. Continuous scoring will be used. Total physical activity will be the primary outcome; components of physical activity and sedentary time will be examined as secondary outcomes. The investigators added an additional item at the end of the survey: "Was your physical activity much less than typical this week due to very unusual circumstances such as being sick, moving, unusual travel, being hospitalized, etc.?" Response options were: "Yes - my physical activity this week was much less than typical due to very unusual circumstances", "No - my physical activity was fairly typical despite experiencing very unusual circumstances", and "No - my circumstances were basically normal".

  Baseline, Posttreatment (4 weeks after baseline) and Follow-up (8 weeks after baseline)

Secondary Outcomes (27)

• Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, Version 3 (BREQ-3) - Total score

  Baseline, Posttreatment (4 weeks after baseline) and Follow-up (8 weeks after baseline)

• Amotivation - Subscale of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, Version 3 (BREQ-3)

  Baseline, Posttreatment (4 weeks after baseline) and Follow-up (8 weeks after baseline)

• External Regulation - Subscale of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, Version 3 (BREQ-3)

  Baseline, Posttreatment (4 weeks after baseline) and Follow-up (8 weeks after baseline)

• Introjected Regulation - Subscale of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, Version 3 (BREQ-3)

  Baseline, Posttreatment (4 weeks after baseline) and Follow-up (8 weeks after baseline)

• Identified Regulation - Subscale of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, Version 3 (BREQ-3)

  Baseline, Posttreatment (4 weeks after baseline) and Follow-up (8 weeks after baseline)

Study Arms (2)

Values Clarification Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will respond to values clarification writing prompts related to physical exercise once a day over 28 days in addition to a short daily survey. In each session, one writing prompt will be randomly presented from a pool of four categories: hierarchical, conditional, distinction, and perspective-taking. The survey inquires about time spent doing light, moderate, and vigorous exercise the day before, in addition to time spent watching television, using the computer, and sitting. It also includes the 24 item Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory adapted for ecological momentary assessment and questions asking participants to rate the extent to which they currently feel 8 emotions, their current motivation to exercise, and their stress yesterday. The writing prompt and survey are estimated to take 10 minutes to complete daily. Participants will have the option to review additional educational content about values and their previous written responses.

Behavioral: Values Clarification Mobile Application

Self-Reflection Condition

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Participants in this condition will be asked to respond to one randomly selected self-reflection prompt about physical activity from a library of 28 prompts once a day over 28 days \[4 weeks\]. As with the experimental condition, participants will also complete the same daily survey which includes questions about how many minutes they spent doing light, moderate, and vigorous exercise the day before, in addition to how many hours they spent watching television, using the computer, and sitting. The survey also contains the 24 item Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory adapted for ecological momentary assessment and questions asking participants to rate the extent to which they are currently feeling 8 emotions, their current motivation to exercise, and their stress the day before. This is estimated to take 10 minutes to complete daily. Participants will have the option to review additional educational content about values clarification and their previous written responses.

Behavioral: Self-Reflection Mobile Application

Interventions

Values Clarification Mobile Application BEHAVIORAL

Participants in the intervention group will be asked to answer a series of values clarification writing prompts related to physical activity once a day over four weeks.

Values Clarification Condition

Self-Reflection Mobile Application BEHAVIORAL

Participants in the control group will be administered writing prompts in the same format and frequency as the values intervention, but with prompts focused on self-reflection related to physical activity.

Self-Reflection Condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age between 18 and 65 years old.
• Living in the United States
• Own a device that can receive text messages.
• Have reliable internet access.
• Want to increase physical activity.

You may not qualify if:

• Below 18 or above 65 years old.
• Living outside the United States
• Not owning a device that can receive text messages.
• Not having reliable internet access.
• Not interested in increasing physical activity.
• Not having the fluency in English sufficient to read or understand study materials.
• Unable to engage in physical activity safely due to medical status.
• Currently in another program focused on increasing physical activity.
• Currently taking medications that cause dizziness or feeling faint while standing (e.g. some hypertension medications).
• Already completing 150 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity most weeks.
• Report any condition that would preclude adherence to the intervention protocol (e.g. current or past substance use disorder or psychiatric hospitalization, terminal illness diagnosis.)
• Participants will also be excluded from the study if they are suspected of being a bot or invalid respondent based on their responses.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Mississippi State University: lead
• Association for contextual behavioral science: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Mindfulness and Acceptance Processes Lab

Starkville, Mississippi, 39759, United States

Location

Related Publications (21)

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  BACKGROUND

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  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior; Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Jennifer Krafft, PhD

  Mississippi State University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 28, 2024
• First Posted: April 17, 2024
• Study Start: June 25, 2024
• Primary Completion: December 8, 2024
• Study Completion: March 18, 2025
• Last Updated: May 8, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: Within one year of the end of data collection, and remaining available indefinitely.
• Access Criteria: There are no specific access criteria. The request must have a valid research-related purpose.

Locations

US (1)