Testing the effectiveness of physical activity advice delivered via text messaging vs. human phone advisors in a Latino population: The On The Move randomized controlled trial design and methods

Abstract

Physical inactivity is a key risk factor for a range of chronic diseases and conditions, yet, approximately 50% of U.S. adults fall below recommended levels of regular aerobic physical activity (PA). This is particularly true for ethnic minority populations such as Latino adults for whom few culturally adapted programs have been developed and tested. Text messaging (SMS) represents a convenient and accessible communication channel for delivering targeted PA information and support, but has not been rigorously evaluated against standard telehealth advising programs. The objective of the On The Move randomized controlled trial is to test the effectiveness of a linguistically and culturally targeted SMS PA intervention (SMS PA Advisor) versus two comparison conditions: a) a standard, staff-delivered phone PA intervention (Telephone PA Advisor) and b) an attentioncontrol arm consisting of a culturally targeted SMS intervention to promote a healthy diet (SMS Nutrition Advisor). The study sample (N = 350) consists of generally healthy, insufficiently active Latino adults ages 35 years and older living in five northern California counties. Study assessments occur at baseline, 6, and 12 months, with a subset of participants completing 18-month assessments. The primary outcome is 12-month change in walking, and secondary outcomes include other forms of PA, assessed via validated self-report measures and supported by accelerometry, and physical function and well-being variables. Potential mediators and moderators of intervention success will be explored to better determine which subgroups do best with which type of intervention. Here we present the study design and methods, including recruitment strategies and yields. Trial Registration: clinicaltrial.gov Identifier = NCT02385591

Recruitment and Retention Strategies for Underrepresented Populations and Adults With Arthritis in Behavioral Interventions: A Scoping Review

“…Of the interventions and protocol/design papers describing interventions (Table 1), the studies were primarily focused on physical activity or exercise (n = 25) (44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)58,59,(61)(62)(63)(64)(65)(66)(68)(69)(70)(71)(72)(73) with only 5 studies examining disease selfmanagement programs (43,49,56,57,60,67). Of the reviews included (Table 2), 1 focused on recruitment strategies used for disease self-management programs (78), and 7 summarized recruitment and/or retention strategies for physical activity or exercise interventions (21,(79)(80)(81)(82)(83)(84).…”

“…Among physical activity or exercise interventions, a few studies targeted populations with arthritis, including osteoarthritis (58,73), rheumatoid arthritis (73), and FM (50). The majority of studies included primarily African American (44)(45)(46)(47)(48)51,52,54,55,59,(64)(65)(66) or Hispanic or Latino populations (53,54,62,66,69,71,72). The reviews of strategies used in physical activity/exercise interventions primarily focused on underserved or underrepresented (21,79,(82)(83)(84) or African American populations (80).…”

“…A wide range of recruitment strategies were employed across the studies and reported in the reviews, and almost all studies used multiple strategies. In most studies, flyers/brochures/printed materials were distributed to recruit participants from a wide variety of sites including worksites, schools, churches, libraries, beauty and nail salons, community centers, cafeterias, grocery stores, senior housing sites, clinical centers, and other locations (21,(44)(45)(46)(47)(50)(51)(52)(53)55,61,(63)(64)(65)(69)(70)(71)(72)74,75,(79)(80)(81)(82)(83)(84), sometimes with tailoring such as using images that reflected the study priority populations. Often studies described general recruiting at community locations where the priority population spent time such as outdoor markets, laundromats, dollar stores, childcare settings, bus depots, senior centers, community centers, and community events (45,55,61,72,74,76,77,82,83).…”

An in-depth comparison of well-being among Latinx and non-Latinx White adults: A cautionary tale

“…On the Move (OTM) was a 12-month randomized controlled trial among Latinxs that tested the effectiveness of a culturally-appropriate physical activity intervention ( King et al, 2013 ) delivered via text-messaging or phone ( King et al, 2020 ). Recruitment occurred between 2015 and 2017 via geographically defined targeted mass mailings and emails, community email lists, social media, community outreach activities, newspaper ad, and referrals.…”

Promoting physical activity through text messages: the impact of attitude and goal priority messages

“…Many modalities are available for delivering health interventions (Beck et al, 2016 ; Dombrowski, O'Carroll, & Williams, 2016 ). The adoption of mobile phones to target PA rates has gained recent popularity, particularly those using the short message service (SMS) (King et al, 2020 ; Legler, Celano, Beale, Hoeppner, & Huffman, 2020 ). A SMS, or text message, comprises a maximum of 160 characters and is distributed to a mobile phone.…”