Dataset Information

Which Components of a Smartphone Walking App Help Users to Reach Personalized Step Goals? Results From an Optimization Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Assistant to Lift your Level of activitY (Ally) app is a smartphone application that combines financial incentives with chatbot-guided interventions to encourage users to reach personalized daily step goals.

Purpose

To evaluate the effects of incentives, weekly planning, and daily self-monitoring prompts that were used as intervention components as part of the Ally app.

Methods

We conducted an 8 week optimization trial with n = 274 insurees of a health insurance company in Switzerland. At baseline, participants were randomized to different incentive conditions (cash incentives vs. charity incentives vs. no incentives). Over the course of the study, participants were randomized weekly to different planning conditions (action planning vs. coping planning vs. no planning) and daily to receiving or not receiving a self-monitoring prompt. Primary outcome was the achievement of personalized daily step goals.

Results

Study participants were more active and healthier than the general Swiss population. Daily cash incentives increased step-goal achievement by 8.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI): [2.1, 14.1] and, only in the no-incentive control group, action planning increased step-goal achievement by 5.8%, 95% CI: [1.2, 10.4]. Charity incentives, self-monitoring prompts, and coping planning did not affect physical activity. Engagement with planning interventions and self-monitoring prompts was low and 30% of participants stopped using the app over the course of the study.

Conclusions

Daily cash incentives increased physical activity in the short term. Planning interventions and self-monitoring prompts require revision before they can be included in future versions of the app. Selection effects and engagement can be important challenges for physical-activity apps.

Clinical trial information

This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03384550.

SUBMITTER: Kramer JN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7291330 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Which Components of a Smartphone Walking App Help Users to Reach Personalized Step Goals? Results From an Optimization Trial.

Kramer Jan-Niklas JN Künzler Florian F Mishra Varun V Smith Shawna N SN Kotz David D Scholz Urte U Fleisch Elgar E Kowatsch Tobias T

Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine 20200601 7

<h4>Background</h4>The Assistant to Lift your Level of activitY (Ally) app is a smartphone application that combines financial incentives with chatbot-guided interventions to encourage users to reach personalized daily step goals.<h4>Purpose</h4>To evaluate the effects of incentives, weekly planning, and daily self-monitoring prompts that were used as intervention components as part of the Ally app.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted an 8 week optimization trial with n = 274 insurees of a health insura ...[more]

PMID: 32182353

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Project description:BackgroundTobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and the annual economic burden attributable to smoking exceeds US $300 billion. Obstacles to smoking cessation include limited access and adherence to effective cessation interventions. Technology can help overcome these obstacles; many smartphone apps have been developed to aid smoking cessation, but few that conform to the US clinical practice guideline (USCPG) have been rigorously tested and reported in the literature. Clickotine is a novel smartphone app for smoking cessation, designed to deliver the essential features of the USCPG and engineered to engage smokers by personalizing intervention components.ObjectiveOur objective was to assess the engagement, efficacy, and safety of Clickotine in an initial, single-arm study. Outcomes measured were indicators of engagement with the smartphone app (number of app opens, number of interactions with the Clickotine program, and weeks active with Clickotine), cessation outcomes of 7- and 30-day self-reported abstinence from smoking, and negative health events.MethodsWe recruited US residents between 18 and 65 years of age who owned an iPhone and smoked 5 or more cigarettes daily for the study via online advertising. Respondents were prescreened for eligibility by telephone and, if appropriate, directed to a Web portal to provide informed consent, confirm eligibility, and download the Clickotine app. Participants completed study assessments via the online portal at baseline and after 8 weeks. Data were collected in Amazon S3 with no manual data entry, and access to all data was maximally restrictive, logged, and auditable.ResultsA total of 416 participants downloaded the app and constituted the intention-to-treat (ITT) sample. On average, participants opened the Clickotine app 100.6 times during the 8-week study (median 69), logged 214.4 interactions with the Clickotine program (median 178), and remained engaged with Clickotine for 5.3 weeks (median 5). Among the ITT sample, 45.2% (188/416) reported 7-day abstinence and 26.2% (109/416) reported 30-day abstinence from smoking after 8 weeks. Completer analysis focused on 365 (87.7%) of the 416 enrolled participants who completed the 8-week questionnaire revealed that 51.5% (188/365) of completers reported 7-day abstinence and 29.9% (109/365) reported 30-day abstinence. Few adverse events, mostly consistent with nicotine withdrawal symptoms, were reported and overall no safety signal was detected.ConclusionsIn this initial single-arm trial, Clickotine users appeared to demonstrate encouraging indicators of engagement in terms of the number of app opens, number of program interactions, and continued engagement over time. Clickotine users reported encouraging quit rates while reporting few adverse events. Future research is warranted to assess Clickotine's efficacy in a randomized controlled trial.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT02656745; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02656745 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6peTT4x60).

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Dataset Information

Which Components of a Smartphone Walking App Help Users to Reach Personalized Step Goals? Results From an Optimization Trial.

Background

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Clinical trial information

Publications

Which Components of a Smartphone Walking App Help Users to Reach Personalized Step Goals? Results From an Optimization Trial.

Similar Datasets

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