A Wearable mHealth Device to Promote Teenagers' Physical Activity
Condition: Physical Activity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Due to disparities in childhood obesity, interventions for physical activity promotion and
      obesity prevention for low socioeconomic and racial/ethnic minority children and adolescents
      are vital to address disparities across the lifespan. Mobile health applications (mHealth
      apps) are a rapidly growing and promising approach for interactive and individualized
      interventions for disease prevention. Smart phones are a promising platform to reach
      racial/ethnic minority and lower income groups due to high rates of adoption of smart phone
      usage among these groups When paired with wearable sensing devices, mHealth apps for smart
      phones can collect data and provide feedback to users in real time. In a study among
      university students regarding mHealth apps, participants expressed interest in the "ability
      to record and track behaviors and goals and the ability to acquire advice and information 'on
      the go'". For physical activity in particular, wearable physical activity monitors designed
      for consumers that objectively measure and display data related to an individual's physical
      activity on smart phones through mHealth apps have become widely available and affordable.
      These wearable devices wirelessly upload data and provide users with physical activity data
      visualization and goal setting features that can be customized for each user via
      internet-based applications for smart phones, tablets, and/or computers. While several
      internet-based behavioral programs to promote pediatric physical activity have been reported
      in a recent review, none examined wearable sensing devices coupled with mHealth apps.
      Similarly, a 2013 review on mHealth technologies for physical activity assessment and
      promotion reported no studies that used wearable sensing devices for intervention delivery
      and called for research to evaluate feasibility.

      The Primary Goal is to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the FitBit Flex,
      a popular wearable physical activity sensing device that allows data visualization and goal
      setting on smart phones. The target population will be adolescents ages 14-18 years old in
      the Seattle-metro area (n=40) with approximately 50% from low income households or belonging
      to a racial/ethnic minority. We will target this older age group since they have the lowest
      levels of physical activity among the pediatric population. This pilot study will provide
      feasibility and preliminary data for a future R01-funded RCT of the Flex mHealth device and
      app.
    


Intervention name(s): FitBit only; FitBit and Text Messages
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants will use the FitBit device; Participants will use the FitBit device and receive daily affective text messages
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention