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Feasibility Test of Personalized (N-of-1) Trials for Increasing Middle-Aged and Older Adults' Physical Activity
Ciarán P Friel1, Ashley M Goodwin1, Patrick L Robles1
1Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.
Purpose:
To test the feasibility of a remotely-delivered intervention to increase low-intensity physical activity (walking) in middle-aged and older adults.
Design:
This study used a Personalized (N-of-1) trial design.
Setting:
This study took place at a major healthcare system from November 2021 to February 2022.
Subjects:
Sixty adults (45-75 years, 92% female, 80% white) were recruited.
Intervention:
A 10-week study comprising a 2-week baseline, followed by four 2-week periods where 4 Behavior Change Techniques (BCTs) - self-monitoring, goal setting, action planning and feedback - were delivered one at a time in random order.
Measures:
Activity was measured by a Fitbit, and intervention components delivered by email/text. Average daily steps were compared between baseline and intervention. Participants completed satisfaction items derived from the System Usability Scale and reported attitudes and opinions about personalized trials.
Results:
Participants rated personalized trial components as feasible and acceptable. Changes in steps between baseline and intervention were not significant, but a large heterogeneity of treatment effects existed, suggesting some participants significantly increased walking while others significantly decreased.
Conclusions:
Our intervention was well-accepted but use of BCTs delivered individually did not result in a significant increase in steps. Feasibility and heterogeneity of treatment effects support adopting a personalized trial approach to optimize intervention results.
