GetUp&Go: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intervention to Enhance Physical Activity After TBI

NCT ID: NCT06028334

Last Updated: 2025-03-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 70 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-12-19
• Study Completion Date: 2027-08-31

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate GetUp&Go, a program for promoting increased physical activity in individuals at least 6 months post moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury. GetUp&Go is a remotely delivered 10-week program that includes one-on-one sessions with a therapist and a mobile health application (RehaBot).

The main question is whether participants in the 10-week GetUp&Go program increase their physical activity, and exhibit associated benefits in mental and physical health, relative to those who are put on a waitlist.

• Question 1: Do participants who receive immediate treatment with GetUp&Go show more increased physical activity, measured by accelerometer activity counts per day, and improve more on secondary outcomes, such as self-reported physical activity, emotional function, fatigue, sleep, pain, and health-related quality of life, compared to their baseline, relative to those who are put on a waitlist?
• Question 2: Do participants who have continued access to the mobile health component of the intervention, RehaBot, show better maintenance of physical activity gains compared to those who no longer have access to RehaBot?
• Question 3: Are individual participant characteristics associated with participants' response to the treatment program?

Detailed Description

The investigators will conduct a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of a novel, remotely delivered physical activity (PA) promotion program, called GetUp&Go-a name selected by focus group participants with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI). It will be theoretically based, use objective measurement of PA as a primary outcome, and incorporate varied types and amounts of home- and neighborhood-based PA and ways to reduce sedentary behavior, according to participant preferences. Moreover, using a 2-phase design as described below, the investigators will test a method for enhancing longer-term gains in PA using mobile technology, in addition to gains acquired during the first phase of intervention.

Trial design. Participants will undergo baseline testing (T1) and will then be randomized 1:1 to either immediate treatment in GetUp&Go (IT) or waitlist (WL) for 10 weeks. After testing for the primary outcome (T2), the waitlist group will receive GetUp&Go for 10 weeks followed by a T2b evaluation for that group. This phase is called the "A phase", for Acquisition.

Following completion of the GetUp&Go intervention, all participants-regardless of initial group allocation-will be randomized 1:1 to one of two conditions for an additional 10 weeks, the "Follow-Through" (FT) phase. Half of participants will be randomized to the RehaBot condition (RB), which provides continued use of the chatbot to support individualized PA plans, but with no further therapist contact. Participants in the No RehaBot (No RB) condition will not have access to the chatbot. The final evaluation, T3, will occur after the 10-week Follow-Through phase.

Conditions

Traumatic Brain Injury

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Immediate Treatment

The 10-week GetUp&Go intervention will be delivered entirely remotely, with 2 weekly sessions with a therapist delivered over videoconference (Zoom for Healthcare) followed by 3 sessions in weeks 3, 5, and 8, over Zoom or phone according to participant preference.

The overall goal of the intervention is to develop and support a personalized plan to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior, in concert with the unique capabilities, opportunities, and motivational factors of each participant. In session 2 and thereafter, RehaBot will be supplied to participants to deliver therapeutic ingredients to supplement those provided by the therapist.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

GetUp&Go

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

A behavioral treatment combining personalized activity planning and a mobile health application for supporting adherence to activity plans.

Waitlist

A 10-week waitlist with baseline and outcome assessment, followed by receipt of the full GetUp\&Go program.

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

GetUp&Go with 10-Week Delay

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

No assigned treatment during the waitlist phase. Participants in the WL group will be offered the GetUp\&Go intervention, which combines personalized activity planning and a mobile health application, after collection of the primary outcome measure.

Interventions

GetUp&Go

A behavioral treatment combining personalized activity planning and a mobile health application for supporting adherence to activity plans.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

GetUp&Go with 10-Week Delay

No assigned treatment during the waitlist phase. Participants in the WL group will be offered the GetUp\&Go intervention, which combines personalized activity planning and a mobile health application, after collection of the primary outcome measure.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age ≥18
• TBI (open or closed), sustained at least 6 months prior to enrollment, of at least complicated-mild/moderate severity as evidenced by loss or alteration of consciousness ≥ 30 minutes; and/or post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) ≥ 24 hours, not due to intoxication/sedation and documented prospectively from the injury; and/or positive neuroimaging findings consistent with TBI
• Fully weight bearing on lower limbs and able to walk indoors and outdoors without the assistance of another person
• Cognitively able to participate in treatment as judged by ability to travel independently within the community
• Able to communicate adequately in English for participation in the treatment protocols
• Informed consent given by participant

Exclusion Criteria

• Contraindications to increasing PA as judged by study physician, using an exam based on published screening tools
• Medical or psychiatric instability, including current psychosis or severe uncontrolled substance misuse, as assessed using items from the SCID/MINI/ASSIST, or suicidal ideation with intent or plan, as assessed by the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, screening version
• Significant physical or intellectual disability predating the TBI
• Neurodegenerative disorder, e.g., Parkinson's disease
• Insufficiently inactive, i.e., reporting > 23 weekly moderate/vigorous activity units on the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire
• Planned surgery or other hospitalization during the succeeding 9 months
• Physical or sensory disability (e.g., blindness; severe bimanual incoordination) that prevents use of a smartphone

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Albert Einstein Healthcare Network

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Amanda Rabinowitz

Institute Scientist

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Amanda Rabinowitz, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Albert Einstein Healthcare Network

Locations

Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Amanda Rabinowitz, PhD

Role: CONTACT

amanda.rabinowitz@jefferson.edu

215 663-6526

Lauren Krasucki, DPT, MPH

Role: CONTACT

lauren.krasucki@jefferson.edu

Other Identifiers

iRISID-2023-1533

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id