Caroline Cummings MA, Rebecca Crochiere MS, Amy Hughes Lansing, Riya Patel BS
Background: Economic incentives can reinforce health behavior engagement and might be readily implemented within a mobile health (mHealth) program to increase daily physical activity. This approach has not been tested for increasing physical activity in adolescents with overweight and obesity. We examined the feasibility and acceptability of a 12-week behavioral economic incentive physical activity mHealth program with health coaching, goal setting and self-monitoring for adolescents with overweight or obesity. We also assessed changes in physical activity via a fitness tracker, program engagement, and body mass and body fat via bioelectrical impedance analysis.
Methods: Adolescents (N = 28), aged 13 to 18, with a body mass index ≥ 90th percentile participated in the 12-week text-delivered program and wore a Fitbit band to track daily physical activity. Participants were provided monetary incentives for meeting daily and weekly goals.
Results: Participant-reported acceptability was high. There were also significant improvements in daily active minutes with metabolic equivalents >= 3 (p = .05) and body fat percentage (p < .05) in the overall sample. A sub-sample of participants who were highly adherent demonstrated a significant increase in daily steps taken (p < .05).
Conclusions: The pilot program improved adolescent physical activity with greater improvements in physical activity found in adolescents who routinely engaged in the program. A larger trial, with adaptive daily goals and a factorial design to clarify the role of coaching versus incentives in driving physical activity is warranted.
