Physically Inactive Hospital Employees Clinical Trial
Official title:
Examining Financial Health Incentives to Promote Physical Activity Among Inactive Hospital Employees: A Web-based Randomized Control Trial
The objective of this randomized control trial is to examine whether incentives-for-steps (i.e. $1 per day step count goals are reached) increase daily step counts among physically inactive hospital employees.
A 24-week, parallel arm, randomized control trial will be employed to examine the impact of
incentives on physical activity among physically inactive Hamilton Health Science Corporation
employees. Participants will be randomly allocated (1:1) into control (i.e. wellness program
and accelerometer) or intervention groups (i.e. wellness program, accelerometer, incentives),
where only intervention participants will receive reward points for completing daily step
count goals.
After randomization, a baseline 'run-in' assessment phase will occur one week prior to the
study intervention (T0). During this 'run-in' period, participants will wear a Bluetooth
enabled StepsCount Piezo accelerometer, which will track participants' daily steps and
moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and synchronize their accelerometer (i.e.
upload information) to the Change4Life program for seven days. Participants will also be
asked to complete the Behavioural Regulation to Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-3) and the
Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale.
Throughout the 24-week study, all participants will be asked to wear the accelerometer and
synchronize it to the Change4Life program daily. Date, steps per day, and bout minutes of
MVPA per day (bouts include 10 or more continuous minutes of MVPA) will be collected when the
accelerometer is synchronized. Daily synchronization from the accelerometer to the
Change4Life program must be completed by 10 am the next morning. Participants will be
instructed to increase their daily step counts by 1,000 and 2,000 steps above baseline (T0)
over the course of the first six weeks of the study. On week 7, participants will be asked to
increase daily steps per day to 3,000 over baseline, and maintain that level of activity for
the duration of the study.
Outcome measures will be assessed at baseline (T0), intervention end point (T2), and follow
up (T3).
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