The BWH Wellness Project

NCT ID: NCT02850094

Last Updated: 2016-07-29

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 292 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-07-31
• Study Completion Date: 2015-06-30

Brief Summary

The investigators propose a 24 week program to provide proof-of-principle evidence that financial incentives stimulate Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) employees to be more physically active.

Detailed Description

Participants wear a Fitbit Flex accelerometer for at least six months. During the first two weeks, they are paid simply for wearing the Fitbit. After that, they are regularly paid for either meeting CDC guidelines for moderate physical activity (PA) or increasing their PA by at least 10% from the preceding week. Moderate PA is defined as walking for at least 100 steps per minute for at least 10 minutes at a time. One minute of vigorous PA, over 175 steps/minute, counts as two minutes of moderate PA.

In addition to weekly bonuses, there are also bonuses for achieving all goals in 1 month, 3 month, and 6 month intervals. In cases where all three team members received a bonus, their bonuses are doubled. Individuals also fill out weekly questionnaires about their work attendance, as well as longer questionnaires at baseline, three months, and six months.

Conditions

Physical Activity

Keywords

Physical activity; Exercise; Financial Incentives

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Financial Bonuses

For two weeks following enrollment, subjects are monitored via their FitBit accelerometer to monitor their pre-intervention physical activity levels. For a twenty-four week period following the observational period, participants are eligible for financial bonuses based on their increased activity. Participants enroll as teams and are eligible for additional financial bonuses based on their team's performance.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Financial Bonuses

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Each participant is eligible to receive $10 per week for increasing their minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity by 10% from the previous week, or for meeting CDC guidelines of 150 minutes/week. Participants who meet their target minutes of PA every week for one month, three months, or six months receive $15, $25, or $50 bonuses respectively. If all members of a team meet their individual PA goals, each participant's reward is doubled. In total, participants can earn up to $860 if they meet all their goals.

Interventions

Financial Bonuses

Each participant is eligible to receive $10 per week for increasing their minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity by 10% from the previous week, or for meeting CDC guidelines of 150 minutes/week. Participants who meet their target minutes of PA every week for one month, three months, or six months receive $15, $25, or $50 bonuses respectively. If all members of a team meet their individual PA goals, each participant's reward is doubled. In total, participants can earn up to $860 if they meet all their goals.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Brigham and Women's Hospital employee
• Reported less than 30 minutes of exercise per week
• Use a computer daily at work or home
• Willing to wear a pedometer, undergo health screening, and complete occasional questionnaires

Exclusion Criteria

• Occupation: Physician, nurse or other clinician
• Self-reported pregnancy at baseline

• Minimum Eligible Age: 21 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Brigham and Women's Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Elena Losina

Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

References

Meints SM, Yang HY, Collins JE, Katz JN, Losina E. Race Differences in Physical Activity Uptake Within a Workplace Wellness Program: A Comparison of Black and White Employees. Am J Health Promot. 2019 Jul;33(6):886-893. doi: 10.1177/0890117119833341. Epub 2019 Feb 26.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 30808208 (View on PubMed)

Losina E, Smith SR, Usiskin IM, Klara KM, Michl GL, Deshpande BR, Yang HY, Smith KC, Collins JE, Katz JN. Implementation of a workplace intervention using financial rewards to promote adherence to physical activity guidelines: a feasibility study. BMC Public Health. 2017 Dec 1;17(1):921. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4931-2.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 29195494 (View on PubMed)

Smith KC, Michl GL, Katz JN, Losina E. Meteorologic and Geographic Barriers to Physical Activity in a Workplace Wellness Program. J Phys Act Health. 2018 Feb 1;15(2):108-116. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2016-0731. Epub 2017 Nov 25.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 28872399 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

2014P000970

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id