Document Type

Article

Version Deposited

Published Version

Publication Date

10-25-2024

Publication Title

Annals of Behavioral Medicine

DOI

10.1093/abm/kaae058

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although regular physical activity (PA) mitigates the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) during midlife, existing PA interventions are minimally effective. Harnessing social influences in daily life shows promise: digital micro-interventions could effectively engage these influences on PA and require testing.

PURPOSE: This feasibility study employed ecological momentary assessment with embedded micro-randomization to activate two types of social influences (i.e., comparison, support; NCT04711512).

METHODS: Midlife adults (N = 30, MAge = 51, MBMI = 31.5 kg/m2, 43% racial/ethnic minority) with ≥1 CVD risk conditions completed four mobile surveys per day for 7 days while wearing PA monitors. After 3 days of observation, participants were randomized at each survey to receive 1 of 3 comparison micro-interventions (days 4-5) or 1 of 3 support micro-interventions (days 6-7). Outcomes were indicators of feasibility (e.g., completion rate), acceptability (e.g., narrative feedback), and potential micro-intervention effects (on motivation and steps within-person).

RESULTS: Feasibility and acceptability targets were met (e.g., 93% completion); ratings of micro-intervention helpfulness varied by intervention type and predicted PA motivation and behavior within-person (srs=0.16, 0.27). Participants liked the approach and were open to ongoing micro-intervention exposure. Within-person, PA motivation and behavior increased from baseline in response to specific micro-interventions (srs=0.23, 0.13), though responses were variable.

CONCLUSIONS: Experimental manipulation of social influences in daily life is feasible and acceptable to midlife adults and shows potential effects on PA motivation and behavior. Findings support larger-scale testing of this approach to inform a digital, socially focused PA intervention for midlife adults.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Published Citation

Danielle Arigo, Leah M Schumacher, Kiri Baga, Jacqueline A Mogle, Digital, Social Micro-Interventions to Promote Physical Activity Among Midlife Adults With Elevated Cardiovascular Risk: An Ambulatory Feasibility Study With Momentary Randomization, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2024;, kaae058, https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaae058

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