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An online social network to increase walking in dog owners: a randomized trial.

ABSTRACT: Encouraging dog walking may increase physical activity in dog owners. This cluster-randomized controlled trial investigated whether a social networking Web site (Meetup™) could be used to deliver a multicomponent dog walking intervention to increase physical activity.Sedentary dog owners (n = 102) participated. Eight neighborhoods were randomly assigned to the Meetup™ condition (Meetup™) or a condition where participants received monthly e-mails with content from the American Heart Association regarding increasing physical activity. The Meetup™ intervention was delivered over 6 months and consisted of newsletters, dog walks, community events, and an activity monitor. The primary outcome was steps; secondary outcomes included social support for walking, sense of community, perceived dog walking outcomes, barriers to dog walking, and feasibility of the intervention.Mixed-model analyses examined change from baseline to postintervention (6 months) and whether change in outcomes differed by condition. Daily steps increased over time (P = 0.04, d = 0.28), with no differences by condition. The time-condition interaction was significant for the perceived outcomes of dog walking (P = 0.04, d = 0.40), such that the Meetup™ condition reported an increase in the perceived positive outcomes of dog walking, whereas the American Heart Association condition did not. Social support, sense of community, and dog walking barriers did not significantly change. Meetup™ logins averaged 58.38 per week (SD, 11.62). Within 2 months of the intervention ending, organization of the Meetup™ groups transitioned from the study staff to Meetup™ members.Results suggest that a Meetup™ group is feasible for increasing physical activity in dog owners. Further research is needed to understand how to increase participation in the Meetup™ group and facilitate greater connection among dog owners.

SUBMITTER: Schneider KL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4286532 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An online social network to increase walking in dog owners: a randomized trial.

Schneider Kristin L KL Murphy Deirdra D Ferrara Cynthia C Oleski Jessica J Panza Emily E Savage Clara C Gada Kimberly K Bozzella Brianne B Olendzki Effie E Kern Daniel D Lemon Stephenie C SC

Medicine and science in sports and exercise 20150301 3

<h4>Purpose</h4>Encouraging dog walking may increase physical activity in dog owners. This cluster-randomized controlled trial investigated whether a social networking Web site (Meetup™) could be used to deliver a multicomponent dog walking intervention to increase physical activity.<h4>Methods</h4>Sedentary dog owners (n = 102) participated. Eight neighborhoods were randomly assigned to the Meetup™ condition (Meetup™) or a condition where participants received monthly e-mails with content from ...[more]

PMID: 25003777

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Online social networks may be a promising modality to deliver lifestyle interventions by reducing cost and burden. Although online social networks have been integrated as one component of multimodality lifestyle interventions, no randomized trials to date have compared a lifestyle intervention delivered entirely via online social network with a traditional clinic-delivered intervention. OBJECTIVE:This paper describes the design and methods of a noninferiority randomized controlled trial, testing (1) whether a lifestyle intervention delivered entirely through an online social network would produce weight loss that would not be appreciably worse than that induced by a traditional clinic-based lifestyle intervention among overweight and obese adults and (2) whether the former would do so at a lower cost. METHODS:Adults with body mass index (BMI) between 27 and 45 kg/m2 (N=328) will be recruited from the communities in central Massachusetts. These overweight or obese adults will be randomized to two conditions: a lifestyle intervention delivered entirely via the online social network Twitter (Get Social condition) and an in-person group-based lifestyle intervention (Traditional condition) among overweight and obese adults. Measures will be obtained at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months after randomization. The primary noninferiority outcome is percentage weight loss at 12 months. Secondary noninferiority outcomes include dietary intake and moderate intensity physical activity at 12 months. Our secondary aim is to compare the conditions on cost. Exploratory outcomes include treatment retention, acceptability, and burden. Finally, we will explore predictors of weight loss in the online social network condition. RESULTS:The final wave of data collection is expected to conclude in June 2019. Data analysis will take place in the months following and is expected to be complete in September 2019. CONCLUSIONS:Findings will extend the literature by revealing whether delivering a lifestyle intervention via an online social network is an effective alternative to the traditional modality of clinic visits, given the former might be more scalable and feasible to implement in settings that cannot support clinic-based models. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02646618; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02646618 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6v20waTFW).

Dataset Information

An online social network to increase walking in dog owners: a randomized trial.

Publications

An online social network to increase walking in dog owners: a randomized trial.

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