Make Better Choices

Summary

The average adult has a poor quality diet and sedentary lifestyle, but the best way to produce sustained healthy change remains unknown. The MBC2 intervention uses handheld technology to help individuals monitor and transmit information about their eating and activity remotely to a behavior coach. The proposed trial tests whether MBC2 intervention improves diet and activity more than a stress management control condition, and whether changing multiple health behaviors is best achieved by changing them all at the same time, or one after another.

Conditions

• Health Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sequential MBC Condition

Participants in the sequential condition will increase F/V consumption and decrease Sed behavior (weeks 1-6), then increase physical activity (weeks 7-12). Smartphones are equipped with customized real-time goal thermometers that provide objective feedback on target behaviors (FV, Sed, and PA). At the start of prescription, the FV and Sed goal thermometers are activated. During week 1-2, participants will close 1/3 of the gap between their baseline behaviors and target behaviors. During week 3-4 they will close 2/3 of the gap, and in weeks 5-6 they will achieve 100% of their goals. Participants will maintain these goals for the remainder of the 12-week intervention. At week 7, a real-time PA goal thermometer wirelessly linked to accelerometers will be activated. Similarly, in weeks 7-8 participants will be asked to close 1/3 of the gap between their baseline PA and target, in week 9-10 they will close 2/3 of the gap, and finally they will reach 100% of their PA goal in weeks 11-12.

BEHAVIORAL

Simultaneous MBC Condition

Simultaneous MBC condition will target FV+, Sed- and PA+ simultaneously. Participants in the simultaneous condition will wear their accelerometers and enter diet and sedentary activity 5 days/week. All 3 goal thermometers will be activated from the outset of prescription. The goal will be to close 1/3 of the gap between their FV, Sed, and PA statuses and the targets in weeks 1-2, close 2/3 of the gap in weeks 3-4, reach their targets in weeks 5-6, and then maintain target level behavior changes for FV, Sed and PA through week 12.

BEHAVIORAL

Stress Management

Participants in the stress management control condition target stress, relaxation and sleep. This will serve as an attentional control condition. During the 12-week prescription period, participants will wear accelerometers, log hours slept, enter real-time information about their relaxation exercises and stress, and monitor 3 goal thermometers (sleep, relaxation, stress) to meet behavioral targets. Similarly, their goal is to close 1/3 of the gap between their baseline stress, sleep, and performance of relaxation exercises and the target criterion in weeks 1-2, close 2/3 of the gap in weeks 3-4, reach their targets in weeks 5-6, and then maintain these behavior changes through week 12.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

  collaborator NIH

• Northwestern University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bonnie Spring, PhD, ABPP · Northwestern University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-11-30

Primary Completion

2015-03-31

Completion

2015-03-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations