Smartphone App to Increase and Maintain Physical Activity in African American Men (FitBrothers) Phase I

Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable risk factor for a number of preventable chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, strokes, obesity, and diabetes. These conditions constitute health disparities for African American men. Behavioral interventions have proven to be effective in promoting increases in physical activity. While behavior change programs have been shown to assist participants in sustaining behavior change, very few programs have specifically targeted African American men. The use of mHealth, as opposed to other avenues of intervention delivery, is based on published reports documenting that African Americans perceive mobile technology as an acceptable means of intervention delivery. In addition, ownership of smartphones and the use of text messaging are highest among African Americans compared to other ethnic groups. Therefore, a mHealth intervention targeting African American men seems feasible and potentially effective. Our preliminary data show that a PA maintenance smartphone app for African American men that contains self-monitoring, goal-setting, reinforcement, and behavioral lessons was well received by this population. However, the qualitative data revealed that the men believed additional components were necessary to fully tailor the app for African American men, including personalization, chronic disease health information, dietary information, competition, and incentives. In addition, the investigators will tailor the intervention to the sociocultural needs of African American men. The purpose of the Fast-Track STTR is to incorporate these elements within an existing smartphone app. The FitBrothers app will be developed first through this Phase I consisting of (1) iterative focus groups, (2) developing a conceptual model, and (3) conducting beta testing. FitBrothers will address an unmet need in the marketplace as it will be the first smartphone app that is targeted toward PA adoption and maintenance in African American men. The fact that mHealth is acceptable to- and the fact that the application will be developed in collaboration with African American men, leads us to hypothesize that African American men will view the mHealth intervention as acceptable, feasible, and effective. The Fast-Track STTR proposal will be led by a team that has worked together previously and includes researchers and multimedia developers from Klein Buendel, Inc. (KB), Georgetown University, and Pennington Biomedical Research Center.