Planning the Next Steps: Using an Implementation Intention Approach to Increase Daily Walking

Not Applicable

Completed

Interventions: Behavioral: Control Group
Behavioral: Implementation Intention Condition

Brief Summary: The study goal is to design an intervention utilizing implementation intentions to help participants prospectively plan and visualize ways to increase activity for the next day among working adults who do not currently exercise or use an activity monitor. Investigators will assess the level of and changes in physical activity, and how this relates to various individual factors that are related to exercise and health, including self-efficacy, control beliefs, and cognition.

Detailed Description: The 5-week study consists of a 1-week baseline, where participants are asked to wear a Fitbit to document the number of steps taken that day to establish an objective measurement of steps before the intervention began. In the intervention condition, after the baseline week, during weeks 2 to 5, this condition is prompted with an email each evening for four weeks to review their schedules for the following day and identify time slots where they could add activity. They are given instructions for providing a detailed calendar of appointments and open slots for the next day using a simple daily planner. The planning implementation intention manipulation involves recording specific information about when, where, and how they will add steps to their day. They are provided with maps near their home and work with specific information about distances, estimated time to walk between different points, and number of steps for specific routes to help them in planning for specific routes.The control condition is matched for how much contact they have with the research staff (called and emailed the same amount of times) and also wear the Fitbit daily. The only difference from the intervention group is that they do not get the daily planning instructions or maps for the implementation intention strategy treatment. All activity data from the Fitbit was deidentified and aggregated with an online platform called Fitabase.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Control group	Control Group	Participants will wear a Fitbit Zip to record their daily activity data, which will be deidentified and aggregated with an online platform called Fitabase. Participants in the control group will be matched with the intervention group for how much contact they have with the researcher.
Implementation Intention Condition	Implementation Intention Condition	Participants will wear a Fitbit Zip to record their daily activity data, which will be deidentified and aggregated with an online platform called Fitabase. Participants in this arm will receive all components of the intervention: scheduling, maps, and activity goals.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Steps	Week 1 & Week 5	Weekly average of daily step counts with Fitbit (averaged across 7 days at Week 1 and averaged across 7 days at Week 5).
Activity Intensity	Week 1 & Week 5	Weekly average of daily time spent in moderate to vigorous intensity activity (averaged across 7 days at Week 1 and averaged across 7 days at Week 5).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Exercise Control Beliefs	Baseline (Pre-Test) and Week 5 (Post-Test )	Degree of perceived control over Exercise. Range from 1 (Strongly agree) to 5 (strongly agree). Reverse coded so that a higher number indicates more perceived control over exercise.
Cognitive Composite Score	Baseline (Pre-Test) and Week 5 (Post-Test )	Z-score composite on the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT). Individual tests scores were first standardized to z-scores. The z-score composite was calculated by averaging the z-scores of the 5 tests: word list immediate, word list delayed, backwards counting, digits backwards, and category fluency. Post-test z-scores were standardized based on the mean and s.d. of the pretest scores. A higher z-score is indicative of better cognitive functioning.
Exercise Self-efficacy Beliefs - Time Composite	Baseline (Pre-Test) and Week 5 (Post-Test )	Amount of confidence in ability to exercise when facing time constraints. Range from 1 (Very Sure) to 4 (Not sure at all). Reverse coded so that a higher number indicates more self-efficacy. 3 items, summed to form time-relevant composite scale.
Exercise Self-efficacy	Baseline (Pre-Test) and Week 5 (Post-Test )	Amount of confidence in ability to exercise.