Enhancing Adherence by Building Online Communities

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to determine whether online peer support will increase adherence to an internet-based pedometer walking program.

Detailed Description
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Stepping Up to Health with eCommunities is a study that takes what we already know about motivating sedentary, chronically ill people to walk, and begins to explore what it takes to keep people motivated to exercise over time: the ability to self-monitor behavior with accurate ecological momentary assessments. We have theorized that peer support, monitoring and competition are ways in which people can stay motivated to meet their walking goals; thus, we have built into this intervention online forums for participants to communicate with each other and garner support, as well as a pilot one-to-many competitive game based on the percent of an individual's goal met. Our research question is whether online community participation can increase adherence to an Internet-mediated walking program, which consists of an uploading pedometer, and going to a website to receive graphical and textual feedback as to whether participants are meeting gradually increasing walking goals. Three hundred participants will spend four months in this randomized, controlled trial to compare the intervention alone to the intervention plus online community support.

Official Title
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Enhancing Adherence to an Internet-Mediated Walking Program by Building Online Communities

Conditions
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Type 2 Diabetes, Coronary Artery Disease, Obesity

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Stepping Up to Health


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Must have one or more of the following: Coronary artery disease (CAD); BMI 25 or higher; Type 2 diabetes Must be sedentary, defined by less than 150 minutes of self-reported activity per week Must be 18 or older Must have access to a computer with an Internet connection, a USB port, and Windows 2000 (latest service pack), XP or Vista Must be a regular email user (checking weekly) Must be able to communicate in English Exclusion Criteria: Pregnant Cannot walk a block (self-report) Not competent to sign consent Unable to obtain medical clearance from a treating physician (primary care, cardiologist, endocrinologist) Type 1 diabetes

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: 1<br>Stepping Up to Health only | Behavioral: Stepping Up to Health<br>* Internet-mediated walking program with pedometers, goal-setting and tailored messaging<br>|
| Experimental: 2<br>Stepping up to Health PLUS online message boards to talk with other participants | Behavioral: Stepping Up to Health<br>* Internet-mediated walking program with pedometers, goal-setting and tailored messaging<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Total steps |  | last 30 days of intervention | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| dropout rate |  | Four months | 
| days and hours pedometer worn |  | four months | 
| login frequency |  | four months | 
| upload frequency |  | four months | 
| content of posts (qualitative) |  | four months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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walk*, heart, weight, Overweight, bmi, diabetes, type 2, diabetic, walk, diab*, obese, exercise, activity, coronary, pedometer