Habit Formation in Older Adults: Feasibility Study

NCT ID: NCT04037033

Last Updated: 2021-02-05

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 12 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-08-01
• Study Completion Date: 2020-03-06

Brief Summary

Sedentary behavior, which is characterized by too much sitting, is an epidemic in the United States. It is estimated that 4 out of every 10 Americans never engage in physical activity, and approximately 60% of an adult's non-sleeping hours are spent in sedentary behaviors. This equates to approximately 9-10 hours per day. As sedentary behavior increases, so do diagnoses of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease. Older adults are particularly at risk for sedentary behavior and the related chronic illnesses.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing the EMA intervention with medically stable older adults who are living in the community.

The secondary aims of this study are to investigate the effectiveness of the Everyday Meaningful Activities (EMA) Intervention in forming active lifestyle behavior habits and in decreasing an individual's perceived sedentary time.

This prospective study will examine the ability of medically stable older adults to decrease sedentary behavior by creating new, active lifestyle behavior habits using the Everyday Meaningful Activities intervention. The EMA Intervention is based in Habit Formation Theory. It is an individualized, client-centered intervention that aims to increase adherence to active lifestyle behaviors in older adults' lives. Participants will engage in the EMA Intervention that is designed to create new active lifestyle behavior habits by attaching these new active lifestyle behaviors to currently existing daily routines.

During six intervention sessions over six weeks, participants will select two new active lifestyle behaviors to make habitual and will create action plans to create the habits. The first behavior will be implemented at the first intervention session, and the second behavior will be implemented at the fourth session. The participants will be assessed three times over their 8 to 10-week study participation. Participants should (1) be 65 years of age and older, (2) have intact cognition, (3) have no self-reported physical activity limitations, (4) have a sedentary lifestyle, and (5) have no acute illnesses or unstable medical conditions.

The results of this study may provide evidence for the occupational therapy intervention to decrease sedentary behavior in older adults in the community. The results may also broaden the scope of occupational therapy practice through demonstrating the potential for occupational therapy services in preventive health care.

Conditions

Older Adults

Study Design

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

Interventions

Everyday Meaningful Activities (EMA) intervention

The EMA intervention will include 6 intervention sessions. At session 1, the interventionist and participant will identify 2 meaningful active lifestyle behavior goals using COPM. Last, an action plan will be created for behavior 1. Participants will be asked to implement the action plan everyday.

At session 2, the interventionist and participants will review the daily activity log and the action plan.

At session 3, the interventionist and the participants will review the daily activity log and the action plan.

At session 4, an action plan will be created for behavior 2. Participants will be asked to implement the action plan for behavior 2 everyday.

At session 5, the participants and interventionists will discuss the participant's daily activity log and action plan.

At session 6, the participants and interventionists will discuss the participant's daily activity log and action plan.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• age 65 or older,
• intact cognition as confirmed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment blind version
• no physical activity restrictions that can be self-reported
• sedentary lifestyle as confirmed by the Rapid Assessment Disuse Index
• live within 20 miles of the College of Allied Health Sciences at ECU
• have access to the internet and/or a telephone for remote intervention sessions

Exclusion Criteria

• acute or terminal illness
• myocardial infarction in the previous 6 months
• unstable cardiovascular disease
• unstable metabolic disease
• neuromusculoskeletal disorders that severely impact voluntary movement
• limb amputation
• upper or lower extremity fracture in the previous 3 months
• current symptomatic hernia
• current symptomatic hemorrhoids
• cognitive impairment

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

East Carolina University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Young Joo Kim

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Young Joo Kim, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

East Carolina University

Locations

East Carolina University

Greenville, North Carolina, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

UMCIRB 19-001365

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id