Caminamos: A Smartphone App to Connect With Walking Partners

NCT ID: NCT03059901

Last Updated: 2018-09-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 60 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2015-08-04
• Study Completion Date: 2016-12-31

Brief Summary

Despite numerous interventions designed to increase physical activity, few are specifically tailored to Latinas, a population where higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases are present. This proposed smartphone app will use location-based services to connect Latinas with one another in order to improve walking habits by increasing social support and decreasing perceived barriers, both of which are known to play a role in physical activity behaviors. In this Phase I research, surveys of potential end-users will determine interest in the app and focus groups will help shape a prototype of the app, which will be developed and tested to determine feasibility and functionality for a randomized Phase II intervention.

Detailed Description

Health disparities are high among Latinas. They are more likely to be overweight, diagnosed with diabetes, and physically inactive compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Thus, interventions that target improving health access and ameliorating chronic diseases among Latinas are of high public health importance. Regular physical activity (PA) promotes physical and emotional well-being, yet PA interventions tailored for Latinas remain limited. Available data suggest that community-focused interventions produce improvements in physical activity (PA) and are well-received by Latinas especially when social and physical environments are considered (e.g., social support, safe walking areas, etc.). Research suggests that Latinos respond favorably to technological-based health interventions. Almost 90% of Latinos own a cellphone; 60% own a smartphone. Thus, health promotion interventions that can address Latinos' preferences regarding their physical and social environments while utilizing a preferred technology source (e.g., smartphone) could prove highly successful. One smartphone feature that offers great potential health promotion benefit is location-based services (LBS). LBS use geographic positioning to help users connect to their surrounding environment and to other users, thus providing them with real-time, user-specific information. This proposed project, ¡Caminamos!, will develop a smartphone app for use with 18-45 year old Latinas that uses LBS to connect women within geographically proximal neighborhoods as a way to provide social support for increased walking behaviors. Specific aims are: (1) gather input and evaluative feedback from an Expert Advisory Board (EAB) to help plan and assess the feasibility of creating the app; (2) build connections and gather input from Latino community leaders to assist in the conceptual development of the app through a Community Advisory Board (CAB); (3) conduct an online survey of a national sample of Latinas on their smartphone usage for health promotion, and interest in social networking and LBS technology features; (4) conduct iterative focus groups with Latinas age 18-45 years to guide development of app content, design, and aesthetics to fully develop a functioning prototype; and (5) conduct usability testing with Latinas to test the app's accuracy to establish users' location and connect users through the ¡Caminamos! system and users' use and satisfaction with the app. Few app-based health products are branded towards Latinas. ¡Caminamos! will address this unmet need in the marketplace. It will be the first smartphone app that uses location-based social networking to promote PA, and the only app of its kind targeted to Latinas. It will also expand upon what is known to be successful in Latino exercise engagement while simultaneously addressing key barriers to exercise. Phase I outcomes will provide the necessary framework and data for developing a full-scale app to be tested in a randomized clinical trial. In Phase III, we plan to market ¡Caminamos! directly to consumers in partnership with a company interested in expanding their brand outreach to a Latina population.

Conditions

Physical Activity

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

More App Notifications

Participants receive more notifications than the Active Comparator group from the Caminamos app to walk.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Caminamos App

Intervention Type: OTHER

Mobile phone that encourages Latina women to walk together through social support.

Normal App Notifications

Participants receive less notifications than the Experimental group from the Caminamos app to walk.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Caminamos App

Intervention Type: OTHER

Mobile phone that encourages Latina women to walk together through social support.

Interventions

Caminamos App

Mobile phone that encourages Latina women to walk together through social support.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Eligibility criteria for online survey and focus groups is the ability to read and speak English or Spanish, female, consenting to inclusion in the study, self-identifying as Hispanic/Latina, and owning a smartphone.
• Eligibility criteria for usability testing is the ability to read and speak English or Spanish, female, consenting to inclusion in the study, self-identifying as Hispanic/Latina, owning a smartphone, and willing to use the app for a four-week period.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 45 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Stanford University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Klein Buendel, Inc.

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Valerie Myers, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Senior Scientist

Locations

Stanford University, School of Medicine, The Stanford Prevention Research Center

Palo Alto, California, United States

Klein Buendel, Inc.

Golden, Colorado, United States

Countries

United States

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Other Identifiers

303

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

R43MD009652-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

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R43MD009652

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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