eMOTION: Examining Implicit Attitudes in Physical Activity Engagement

Part of paid clinical trials in Los Angeles, California.

Sponsor
University of Southern California
Study ID
NCT07044570
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Cancer
  • Overweight or Obesity
  • Physical Activity

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Physical Activity Goals mHealth Intervention — BEHAVIORAL
    On days participants plan to exercise, they engage in two daily goal sessions (morning and evening). Morning sessions provide an activity goal for the day and ask the participant to create a plan, anticipate barriers, and brainstorm solutions for achieving this goal. The affect-based goal condition asks participants to engage in either (1) a type (50% of daily goals) or (2) a context (50% of daily goals) of physical activity that allows them to experience positive affect. Goals focused on context are randomly generated to suggest that the participant performs activity (1) in a place; (2) in a social situation; or (3) while listening to something that makes them feel good. The intensity-based goal condition asks participants to maintain a certain target heart rate range during physical activity. Starting heart rate reflects the approximate age-adjusted heart rate max, with goals progressively increasing from 55% to 70% heart rate max.
  • TYPE/CONTEXT enhancement — BEHAVIORAL
    TYPE/CONTEXT augments intervention effects by providing tailored recommendations for activity types and contexts that satisfy personally-important psychological needs as rated by each participant at baseline. Ratings from a crowdsourced panel of adults on Amazon Mechanical Turk will be used to determine the potential for specific activity types and contexts to satisfy psychological needs; our tailoring algorithm will then recommend the corresponding activity type or context while accounting for reported constraints (e.g., ability, access). These details will be incorporated into a tailored recommendation provided to participants each Sunday as they make activity plans for the upcoming week. Specifically, the program will randomly select either type or context (i.e., location, audio, social) recommendations and will rotate every two weeks. For TYPE, participants' top 3 activity types are recommended; for CONTEXT, participants' top 3 activity contexts are recommended.
  • SAVOR enhancement — BEHAVIORAL
    SAVOR implements a brief savoring exercise on the smartphone that takes place either after the planned physical activity session or during the evening goal session (after the self-monitoring module). Participants will respond to questions that are intended to enhance and prolong positive experiences during physical activity. To trigger attentional deployment, a common savoring strategy that involves intensifying experiences by focusing on them, participants will answer three open-ended prompts. These prompts are drawn from a prompt pool with slightly varied wording to promote a sense of novelty. Savoring prompts will rotate daily and have a day lag built in every week (i.e., Week 1 Monday Savoring Prompts are Week 2 Tuesday Savoring Prompts).

Study Details

This early-phase trial will test intervention strategies to influence implicit attitudes towards physical activity and determine whether changes in those mechanisms result in change in physical activity behavior among inactive adults who are overweight or obese.

Key Dates

Start date
Mar 24, 2025
Status verified
Oct 2025
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2026
Completion
Jun 30, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
120 participants (estimated)

Arms

  • Arm: Affect (no enhancements) > Intensity
    Participants receive affect-based goals for the first 8-weeks, then cross-over to receive intensity-based goals for the second 8-weeks. No enhancements are added to the standard mHealth intervention.
  • Arm: Intensity > Affect (no enhancements)
    Participants receive intensity-based goals for the first 8-weeks, then cross-over to receive affect-based goals for the second 8-weeks. No enhancements are added to the standard mHealth intervention.
  • Arm: Affect (+ SAVOR + TYPE/CONTEXT) > Intensity
    Participants receive affect-based goals for the first 8-weeks. In addition to the standard mHealth intervention, participants engage in both SAVOR and TYPE/CONTEXT enhancements to augment the treatment effects of the affect-based goals condition. Participants then cross-over to receive intensity-based goals for the second 8-weeks.
  • Arm: Intensity > Affect (+ SAVOR + TYPE/CONTEXT)
    Participants receive intensity-based goals for the first 8-weeks, then cross-over to receive affect-based goals for the second 8-weeks. In addition to the standard mHealth intervention, participants engage in both SAVOR and TYPE/CONTEXT enhancements to augment the treatment effects of the affect-based goals condition.
  • Arm: Affect (+SAVOR) > Intensity
    Participants receive affect-based goals for the first 8-weeks. In addition to the standard mHealth intervention, participants engage in the SAVOR enhancement to augment the treatment effects of the affect-based goals condition. Participants then cross-over to receive intensity-based goals for the second 8-weeks.
  • Arm: Intensity > Affect (+SAVOR)
    Participants receive intensity-based goals for the first 8-weeks, then cross-over to receive affect-based goals for the second 8-weeks. In addition to the standard mHealth intervention, participants engage in the SAVOR enhancement to augment the treatment effects of the affect-based goals condition.
  • Arm: Affect (+TYPE/CONTEXT) > Intensity
    Participants receive affect-based goals for the first 8-weeks. In addition to the standard mHealth intervention, participants engage in the TYPE/CONTEXT enhancement to augment the treatment effects of the affect-based goals condition. Participants then cross-over to receive intensity-based goals for the second 8-weeks.
  • Arm: Intensity > Affect (+TYPE/CONTEXT)
    Participants receive intensity-based goals for the first 8-weeks, then cross-over to receive affect-based goals for the second 8-weeks. In addition to the standard mHealth intervention, participants engage in the TYPE/CONTEXT enhancement to augment the treatment effects of the affect-based goals condition.

Primary Outcome Measure

Implicit Attitudes [ Time Frame: Up to once daily for weeks 2-9 and weeks 12-19 ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Univeristy of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCalifornia90032
Micaela Hewus, MPH
[email protected]
323-442-7304
Genevieve F Dunton, PhD MPH (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)

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