ANZCTR - Registration

Please note the ANZCTR will be unattended from Friday 20 December 2024 for the holidays. The Registry will re-open on Tuesday 7 January 2025. Submissions and updates will not be processed during that time.

Registering a new trial?

To achieve prospective registration, we recommend submitting your trial for registration at the same time as ethics submission.

The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been endorsed by the ANZCTR. Before participating in a study, talk to your health care provider and refer to this information for consumers

Trial registered on ANZCTR

Registration number

ACTRN12616000517471

Ethics application status

Approved

Date submitted

18/04/2016

Date registered

21/04/2016

Date last updated

29/06/2018

Type of registration

Retrospectively registered

Titles & IDs

Public title

Designing physical activity interventions based on user’s need for cognition: impact on attention and persuasion among healthy adults

Scientific title

Designing physical activity interventions based on user’s need for cognition: impact on attention and persuasion among healthy adults

Secondary ID [1]

nil

Universal Trial Number (UTN)

Trial acronym

Linked study record

Health condition

Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:

physical inactivity

Condition category

Condition code

Public Health

Health promotion/education

Intervention/exposure

Study type

Interventional

Description of intervention(s) / exposure

Arm 1 - Physical activity module designed to persuade via central route information processing (i.e., deep and critical thinking):

The module in this condition consists of 12 slides., Participants are asked to sit in front of the computer in the laboratory and view the slides in their own time . Participants can only view the slides once and can not view a previous slide once they click 'next', Topics covered include the benefits of physical activity, the physical activity guidelines for Australian adults (published by the Department of health and ageing) and how to get started and stay committed to physical activity. The slide content was developed by the lead researcher, drawing from content developed for previous intervention research (e.g., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594649/).

The materials in this condition emphasise facts relating to physical activity and physical activity behaviour change. Strong arguments are presented in a clear and direct manner. No weak arguments are presented and emotional appeals are not used (including humour and emotive language).

Intervention code [1]

Behaviour

Comparator / control treatment

Arm 2 - Physical activity module designed to persuade via peripheral route information processing (i.e., feelings, heuristics):

The module in this condition consists of 16 slides, Participants are asked to sit in front of the computer in the laboratory and view the slides in their own time . Topics covered include the benefits of physical activity, what physical activity is recommended and how to get started and stay committed to physical activity.

In contrast to arm 1, the materials in this condition utilize positive images (e.g., sunsets, fun physical activity) and narratives to convey key messages and to increase associations between physical activity and positive feelings. Text is used to create a narrative that people can identify with, rather than to emphasise facts.

Control group

Active

Outcomes

Primary outcome [1]

Average gaze duration per slide assessed using eye tracking device and software.

Timepoint [1]

Continuous monitoring from start of first slide to the final slide.

Secondary outcome [1]

Physical Activity intentions

The following 3-items (Courneya et al., 1999; Courneya, 1994; Rhodes & Courneya, 2003) will be used to assessed physical activity intentions:

1) In the next week, my goal is to be physically active (response option 1- not at all to 7 every day)
2)Over the next week, I intend to engage in physical activity __ times per week (open response option)
3)I intent to engage in physical activity at least every other day over the next week ( (response option 1- not at all to 7 every day)

Responses are summed together to form overall intention score, with higher scores equating to higher intentions.

Timepoint [1]

Immediate post-intervention

Secondary outcome [2]

Perceived message effectiveness
A 3-item perceived effectiveness scale, adapted from Fishbein et al (2002) and Jensen (2012) will be used to assess the perceived persuasiveness of the messages. The three items are “were the materials convincing”, “would people your age who are not already active be more likely to become active after viewing the materials?” and “Would the materials be helpful for convincing your friends and family to become more physically active?” with 4-point response options: definitely no, no, yes, and definitely yes.

Timepoint [2]

Immediate post-intervention

Secondary outcome [3]

Need for cognition will be assessed so that it can be examined as an effect modifier

The 18-Item Need for Cognition Scale developed by Cacioppo, Feng Kao and Petty (1984) will be utilised. It is based on the original work by Cacioppo and Petty (1982) and is a shortened form scale of the original 34-item scale and was deemed to be more efficient than the 34-item scale. Item examples include ‘I would prefer complex to simple problems’ and ‘thinking is not my idea of fun’

Timepoint [3]

Baseline

Eligibility

Key inclusion criteria

English proficient adults between the ages of 18-60, who can read and write in English, who can attend the University of Adelaide testing site during business hours (9am-5pm Monday-Friday), who can clearly view a computer screen without the assistance of glasses (contact lenses permitted), who are not already participating in recommended physical activity levels (i.e., 30 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity on five or more days per week) and who had not had laser eye surgery are eligible to participate.

Minimum age

18 Years

Maximum age

60 Years

Sex

Both males and females

Can healthy volunteers participate?

Yes

Key exclusion criteria

laser eye surgery

Study design

Purpose of the study

Educational / counselling / training

Allocation to intervention

Randomised controlled trial

Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)

Individuals interested in participating are asked to complete a screening questionnaire online. All individuals are assigned a unique identification number, Algorithms are used to determine if individuals are eligible. If eligible they are denoted as such in the database. The file is then downloaded from the website and uploaded into R. The allocation script that was developed a priori is then run for eligible individuals only to randomise them into study groups on a ratio of 1:1 using random block sizes. This is carried out by a statistician with de-identified data. The statistician then provides the research team with the allocation sequence.

Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)

A random number generator is used.

Masking / blinding

Open (masking not used)

Who is / are masked / blinded?

Intervention assignment

Parallel

Other design features

Phase

Not Applicable

Type of endpoint/s

Efficacy

Statistical methods / analysis

Linear regression examining interaction between group allocation, need for cognition and outcomes of interest (gaze duration, intentions, message effectiveness).

Assuming that high (low) NFC individuals have 5 min (3 min) attention spans when matched with website (ie central vs peripheral) and 1 min (1 min) spans when mis-matched, and assuming normally distributed attention spans with a common standard deviation of 2 min, then simulations indicate that with 50 individuals (25 in each group) there is at least 80% power to detect an interaction between NFC (high v low) and treatment (central v peripheral) when the prevalence of high NFC is between 30% and 70% of the randomized population.

Recruitment

Recruitment status

Completed

Date of first participant enrolment

Anticipated

Actual

1/03/2016

Date of last participant enrolment

Anticipated

30/04/2016

Actual

30/04/2016

Date of last data collection

Anticipated

Actual

13/05/2016

Sample size

Target

Accrual to date

Final

Recruitment in Australia

Recruitment state(s)

Funding & Sponsors

Funding source category [1]

University

Name [1]

University of Adelaide

Address [1]

North Terrace, University of Adelaide
Adelaide, SA, 5000.

Country [1]

Australia

Primary sponsor type

University

Name

University of Adelaide

Address

North Terrace, University of Adelaide
Adelaide, SA. 5000

Country

Australia

Secondary sponsor category [1]

None

Name [1]

nil

Address [1]

nil

Country [1]

Ethics approval

Ethics application status

Approved

Ethics committee name [1]

School of Psychology HREC sub-committee, University of Adelaide

Ethics committee address [1]

North Terrace, University of Adelaide 
SA, 5000

Ethics committee country [1]

Australia

Date submitted for ethics approval [1]

21/09/2015

Approval date [1]

28/09/2015

Ethics approval number [1]

H-2015/94

Summary

Brief summary

Providing individuals with physical activity advice and guidance can help to improve their physical activity behavior. This is especially the case when individuals are motivated to read the information and are able to understand it and consider it thoughtfully. There is some evidence that providing people with information that is matched to their cognitive processing style, known as need for cognition, increases motivation and ability to read the messages presented. Further, there is evidence that this in turn is associated with greater improvements in attitudes and behaviors.  This has been shown in a health context before (e.g., mammogram utilization), but evidence in the physical activity field is lacking. Given that interventions matched to participant’s need for cognition are more resource intensive to develop than unmatched interventions (requiring at least double the intervention materials), research examining the impact of matching to need for cognition in the physical activity domain is needed before this technique is adopted en masse in this area.   

We aim to examine how stimuli optimized for central route (deep thinking) processing compared to peripheral route processing (use of simple cues) are processed by individuals with higher and lower need for cognition and the impact of this on the persuasiveness of the materials. This will be achieved in a mixed method laboratory-based study, with outcomes assessed using eye-trackers, combined with  brief questionnaires and qualitative interview.

We hypothesize that individuals who are shown materials that best match their cognitive processing style will show greater attention to the materials and less distraction when processing them (assessed by eye tracking devices) compared to individuals who are shown materials that do not match their cognitive processing style. Further, we anticipate that greater attention will be associated with more positive ratings of the intervention materials and greater motivation for physical activity participation (assessed via self-report; quantitative and qualitative methods).  

Overall, this study will provide valuable insights into how to develop physical activity messages  and in doing so may help to inform the development of more effective physical activity interventions in the future.

Trial website

Trial related presentations / publications

Short CE, Dry M, Skuse A, Quester P, Vincent A, Rebar A, Vandelanotte C, Duncan MJ, Crutzen R. Exploring the interplay between message format, personal relevance and need for cognition on physical activity message processing. Oral presentation. 31st Conference of the European Health Psychology Society: Innovative Ideas in Health Psychology, Padova, Italy. 29th August-02 September, 2017.

Short CE. Access is Not Usage and Usage is Not Engagement per se! Building a science of user engagement to enhance the efficacy of e&mHealth behavior change interventions.  ECR Keynote. ISBNPA 2016 annual meeting, Cape Town, South Africa, from June 8-12, 2016.

Public notes

Contacts

Principal investigator

Name

Dr Camille Short

Address

Level 7, South Australia Health Medical Research Institute, North terrace,
Adelaide, SA, 5000

Country

Australia

Phone

+61, 8, 83130532

Fax

camille.short@adelaide.edu.au

Contact person for public queries

Name

Camille Short

Address

Level 7, South Australia Health Medical Research Institute, North terrace,
Adelaide, SA, 5000

Country

Australia

Phone

+61, 8, 83130532

Fax

camille.short@adelaide.edu.au

Contact person for scientific queries

Name

Camille Short

Address

Level 7, South Australia Health Medical Research Institute, North terrace,
Adelaide, SA, 5000

Country

Australia

Phone

+61, 8, 83130532

Fax

camille.short@adelaide.edu.au

No information has been provided regarding IPD availability

What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided

Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually

No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically

No additional documents have been identified.

Trial Review

Registering a new trial?

Documents added manually

Documents added automatically