Protocol for the Move Often eVery Day (MOV’D) Pilot: A Multi-Component, Fully-Remote, Peer-Supported Exercise Snack Behavior Change Intervention (Preprint)

Abstract

Prolonged sitting and lack of moderate to vigorous physical activity represent two independent risk factors for myriad poor health outcomes. The negative effects of prolonged sitting can be ameliorated with as little as 2 minutes of large muscle movement. Further, cardiovascular benefits from moderate to vigorous activity can be accumulated throughout the day in short bouts rather than require continuous long bouts. Taken together, “exercise snacks” provide a way to both interrupt prolonged sitting and accumulate moderate to vigorous physical activity during a sedentary work day.

The current protocol describes the feasibility and acceptability pilot of Move Often eVery Day (MOV'D), a fully-remote, peer-supported behavioral intervention to interrupt prolonged bouts of sitting at work with exercise snack breaks.

The MOV’D pilot study aimed to recruit approximately 60-80 participants who work full-time in a sedentary occupation. Using a randomized 2-group design, participants were randomly assigned either to the “Fitbit Control'' or the “MOV’D” experimental group. The pilot study had a 4-week active intervention and a 4-week follow-up with assessments at baseline, 4-weeks, and 8-weeks. The Fitbit control group received a Fitbit to self-monitor their physical activity prior to getting intervention material at the end of the study. In addition to the Fitbit, the MOV’D intervention features included: a private social support group chat seeded with daily experimenter prompts; weekly, 5-minute behavior change technique videos; daily self-monitoring, and daily exercise snack suggestion videos.

Study enrollment began in March 2022 and concluded in June 2022. Data collection concluded in October 2022. We enrolled 70 participants and 68 participants completed all study assessments.

This protocol integrates findings from education, behavioral sciences, sedentary behavior, and exercise physiology to promote building an exercise snack habit at work: taking short, intense exercise breaks to break up prolonged sitting. Results from this pilot study will assess the feasibility and acceptability of the MOV’D intervention.

NCT05360485