NCT05980676

Starting a Weekday Outdoor Walking (WOW) Routine

Starting a Weekday Outdoor Walking (WOW) Routine: A Randomized Controlled Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 150 (actual)
• Sponsor: Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this 4-week randomized study is to evaluate the effect of personalized plans plus an email campaign, with and without email-based coaching (eCoaching), on engagement in a new weekday outdoor walking (WOW) routine and average daily step count. Approximately 150 participants will be recruited via paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. Participants will be randomized to a control group, an intervention group without eCoaching, and an intervention group with eCoaching. The control group will be told that they can work a WOW routine on their own, with the opportunity to take part in the intervention after completing the 4-week follow-up assessment. Both intervention groups will complete an activity that will guide the creation of habit plan (e.g., When I finish eating lunch at work, then I will put on my walking shoes and go outside) and receive a 2-week long personalized email campaign. The primary outcome of interest is change in average daily step count from the month prior to the month after baseline assessment, as compared across the three groups. It is hypothesized that the intervention groups will result in an increase in daily step count, as compared to the control group. Secondary outcomes include habit strength at one-month follow-up and change in self-reported sleep quality and self-efficacy from baseline to follow-up.

Detailed description

The purpose of this 4-week randomized study is to evaluate the effect of personalized implementation intentions plus an email campaign, with and without email-based coaching (eCoaching), on engagement in a new weekday outdoor walking (WOW) routine and average daily step count. Approximately 150 participants will be recruited via paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. Participants will be randomized (1:1:1) to a control group, an intervention group without eCoaching, and an intervention group with eCoaching. The control group will be told that they can work a WOW routine on their own, with the opportunity to take part in the intervention after completing the 4-week follow-up assessment. Both intervention groups will complete an activity that will guide the creation of a habitual instigation implementation intention (e.g., When I finish eating lunch at work, then I will put on my walking shoes and go outside) and receive a 2-week long personalized email campaign. The primary outcome of interest is change in average daily step count from the month prior to the month after baseline assessment, as compared across the three groups. It is hypothesized that the intervention groups will result in a statistically significant increase in daily step count, as compared to the control group. Secondary outcomes include instigation habit strength (via Self-Report Behavioral Automaticity Index) at one-month follow-up and change in self-reported sleep quality (via the Single Items Sleep Quality Scale) and general self-efficacy (via General Self-Efficacy Scale) from baseline to follow-up.

Conditions

• Physical Inactivity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Personalized Two-Week Email-Based Program	Both intervention groups will complete an activity that will guide the creation of a habitual instigation implementation intention (e.g., When I finish eating lunch at work, then I will put on my walking shoes and go outside) and receive a 2-week long personalized email campaign. The Coached group will be able to reply to the emails to give feedback, ask questions, and receive additional support.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-04-11
• Primary completion: 2025-03-01
• Completion: 2025-03-01
• First posted: 2023-08-08
• Last updated: 2025-09-15

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States