Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Sep 9, 2022
Date Accepted: Feb 24, 2023
Engagement with tailored physical activity content in the Families Improving Together (FIT) for weight loss online intervention
ABSTRACT
Background:
Online tailored interventions offer rich opportunities for improved access and personalization of behavioral interventions. However, despite the promise of this approach engagement and underrepresentation of minority groups remain major issues.
Objective:
This study evaluated whether engagement (login status and login duration) with different types of tailored behavioral content from the Families Improving Together for weight loss online intervention was associated with changes in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among African American families with overweight/ obesity.
Methods:
Parent-adolescent dyads were randomized to an online tailored intervention or online health education comparison program. The online intervention (N = 119) was completed by parents and targeted six weight-related behaviors for supporting their adolescent’s weight loss goals (energy balance, fast food, fruit and vegetables, physical activity, sedentary behavior, sweetened beverages). MVPA was measured with accelerometers at baseline and post-intervention.
Results:
Using a hierarchical approach, login status and duration for each online session were used to evaluate the additive effects of engagement with different types of tailored behavioral content on post-online MVPA. Among parents, logging in to the physical activity session was not associated with greater MVPA (B = -12.561, P < .001), but MVPA increased with greater login duration for the PA (B = 0.008, P < .001) and sedentary behavior (B = 0.008, P = .001) sessions. These results suggest that parents who logged in to the PA session had lower MVPA, but MVPA increased with greater login duration for the PA and sedentary behavior sessions. These associations remained even after accounting for engagement with the other content sessions. However, these engagement effects did not translate to adolescents.
Conclusions:
The results from this study highlight the need to disentangle the impact of engagement with different tailored content to improve the efficacy of online tailored interventions, especially for promoting PA in African American families. Clinical Trial: The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01796067)
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