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While people commonly understand that regular physical exercise conveys many health benefits, only 20% of U.S. adults take regular exercise and they have difficulty maintaining new healthy behaviors. The goal of this study is to use a planning intervention to help establish and maintain a daily step regimen in working midlife adults. The investigators will ask participants to plan when, where, and how to act on a daily walking goal in conjunction with a scheduling intervention to increase the chances that they will maintain this new regimen. The effectiveness of three different scheduling interventions will be compared.
While people commonly understand that regular physical exercise conveys many health benefits, only 20% of U.S. adults take regular exercise and they have difficulty maintaining new healthy behaviors. The goal of this study is to use a planning intervention to help establish and maintain a daily step regimen in working midlife adults. The investigators will ask participants to plan when, where, and how to act on a daily walking goal in conjunction with a scheduling intervention to increase the chances that they will maintain this new regimen. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: consistent schedule, inconsistent schedule, no schedule. All participants will be provided with an accelerometer to measure their daily activity and as a behavioral support for our intervention and they will be given a step goal. The goal given to each individual will be to increase immediately their daily steps to a level based on recommended guidelines (e.g., Hill, Wyatt, Reed, and Peters, 2003). The investigators will test which version of the scheduling intervention is most successful for increasing and maintaining step counts. It is predicted that participants in the consistent schedule condition will increase their step count more than those participants in the no schedule control condition, and that they will maintain this activity for a longer period after the intervention period is complete than those participants in the inconsistent schedule condition.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| No schedule control | Active Comparator | This group will receive an accelerometer and daily step goal. They will monitor their steps over the 9 week duration of the study. They will also monitor their steps over the 9 week duration of the study. They will have the same level of contact as the other two conditions. |
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| Consistent schedule condition | Experimental | This group will receive an accelerometer and daily step goal. They will monitor their steps over the 9 week duration of the study. They will have the same level of contact as the other two conditions. In addition they will plan when, where, and how they will take steps in consistent contexts, i.e., that are very similar from day to day. |
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| Inconsistent schedule condition | Active Comparator | This group will receive an accelerometer and daily step goal. They will monitor their steps over the 9 week duration of the study. They will have the same level of contact as the other two conditions. In addition they will plan when, where, and how they will take steps in inconsistent contexts, i.e., that vary from day to day. |
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| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerometer | Device | Participants use an accelerometer to monitor their steps activity |
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| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Physical activity | Number of steps taken each day as measured on accelerometer | Daily for 9 weeks |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Measures of well being | Feelings of satisfaction with life, perceived stress, mood and sleep quality | Before and after intervention (5 weeks apart), and at followup (4 weeks later) |
| Physical activity self-efficacy and ease |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Jane Ebert, PhD | Brandeis University | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandeis University | Waltham | Massachusetts | 02453-2728 | United States |
| PubMed Identifier | Type | Citation | Retractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12574618 | Background | Hill JO, Wyatt HR, Reed GW, Peters JC. Obesity and the environment: where do we go from here? Science. 2003 Feb 7;299(5608):853-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1079857. |
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D009043 | Motor Activity |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D001519 | Behavior |
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Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three between-subjects conditions: consistent schedule, inconsistent schedule, no schedule. The study is a longitudinal study over 9 weeks, including a baseline week, a 4-week intervention and a follow-up assessment 4 weeks after the intervention.
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Participants are not aware of whether they are in an experimental or control condition.
| Step goal | Behavioral | Participants are given a daily step goal to aim for |
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| Consistent contexts | Behavioral | Participants plan to take steps in contexts that are similar from day to day |
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| Inconsistent contexts | Behavioral | Participants plan to take steps in contexts that vary from day to day |
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Perceived ability and ease of being physically active
| Weekly for 4 weeks |