Tweet4Wellness: An Online Virtual Support Group for Promoting Increased Physical Activity

Sponsor

Stanford University (Other)

Overall Status

Completed

CT.gov ID

NCT02958189

Collaborator

(none)

Enrollment

Location

Arms

Actual Duration (Months)

7.5

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a Twitter-based intervention with a private, online support group can significantly increase number of walking steps compared to self-monitoring of physical activity alone or a control group in sedentary women at a women's heart clinic.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Physical Activity Social Media	Behavioral: Tweet4Wellness Behavioral: Self-monitoring	N/A

Detailed Description

Sedentary behavior is a risk factor for heart disease, independent of meeting physical activity guidelines. Tweet4Wellness is an innovative light physical activity, specifically walking, intervention which randomly assigns participants to a 25-person private, online support group that will receive daily, theory-based messages as peer-to-peer discussion prompts. Many text-based interventions do not base the intervention text messages in behavior change theory, but this study will base the daily messages in the behavior change theories such as implementation intentions, social support, mindfulness, and social learning theory.

The trial will be conducted over a 6-month periods. For the first 3 months, there will be 2 groups: Group 1 will receive the Twitter intervention and a "Fitbit" triaxial pedometer to track their steps throughout the day; Group 2 will receive the Fitbit pedometer only.

For the second 3 months: Group 1 an Group 2 will track their physical activity with Fitbit only.

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Actual Enrollment :

45 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Prevention

Official Title:

Tweet4Wellness: An Online Virtual Support Group for Promoting Increased Physical Activity

Actual Study Start Date :

Jun 20, 2019

Actual Primary Completion Date :

Dec 15, 2019

Actual Study Completion Date :

Dec 20, 2019

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Group 1: Tweet4Wellness+Self-monitoring This group will receive the Tweet4Wellness intervention: daily theory-based peer-to-peer discussion prompt within the private Twitter-based support group for the entire 6 months of the study. They will also receive the Fitbit triaxial pedometer that will track their daily steps (self-monitoring component).	Behavioral: Tweet4Wellness A daily, behavior change theory-based intervention message is sent to a private, 25-person online Twitter-support group to prompt peer-to-peer discussion. Participants receive individual text messages to encourage group participation (e.g. 'thank you for participating' or 'please participate tomorrow'). Participants also receive weekly individual messages giving them daily step goals for the week based on their previous week's daily step average, recorded from Fitbit. Behavioral: Self-monitoring A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.
Active Comparator: Group 2: Self-monitoring This group will receive the Fitbit triaxial pedometer that will track their daily steps (self-monitoring component) for the first 3 months. For the second three months of the study, they will receive the Tweet4Wellness intervention in addition to their Fitbit self-monitoring.	Behavioral: Self-monitoring A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: Group 1: Tweet4Wellness+Self-monitoring

This group will receive the Tweet4Wellness intervention: daily theory-based peer-to-peer discussion prompt within the private Twitter-based support group for the entire 6 months of the study. They will also receive the Fitbit triaxial pedometer that will track their daily steps (self-monitoring component).

Behavioral: Tweet4Wellness

A daily, behavior change theory-based intervention message is sent to a private, 25-person online Twitter-support group to prompt peer-to-peer discussion. Participants receive individual text messages to encourage group participation (e.g. 'thank you for participating' or 'please participate tomorrow'). Participants also receive weekly individual messages giving them daily step goals for the week based on their previous week's daily step average, recorded from Fitbit.

Behavioral: Self-monitoring

A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.

Active Comparator: Group 2: Self-monitoring

This group will receive the Fitbit triaxial pedometer that will track their daily steps (self-monitoring component) for the first 3 months. For the second three months of the study, they will receive the Tweet4Wellness intervention in addition to their Fitbit self-monitoring.

Behavioral: Self-monitoring

A Fitbit is provided to the group which tracks participants' daily steps.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Change in steps (physical activity) [Baseline to 3 months and 6 months]
Steps measured by triaxial accelerometer

Secondary Outcome Measures

Support Group Engagement during the intervention [3 months]
Measured by # of Tweets per day sent to the group
average length of prolonged sedentary periods per day [baseline to 3 months and 6 months]
average length of uninterrupted sedentary periods per day over a seven day period

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years and Older

Sexes Eligible for Study:

Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Yes

Inclusion Criteria:

Are a woman
Are over 18 years of age
Are English speaking
Have or are willing to purchase a mobile phone with a camera
Have or are willing to purchase an unlimited text plan
Are willing to participate in daily tweets or texts for up to 3 months
Have an active email account
Have internet access on your mobile phone
Use or are familiar with Facebook, Twitter, or other social media
Text at least weekly

Exclusion Criteria:

Have certain symptoms or conditions that would not be conducive to increasing your physical activity as determined by your physician
Are planning on becoming pregnant in the next 8 months
If our screening survey indicates that you are already adequately physically active
Do not provide all required personal contact information