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MobileMen Project Protocol

MobileMen Project Protocol

African American men are at higher risk for serious health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke compared to non-Hispanic White men. Physical activity is a modifiable health behavior that has been shown to decrease chronic disease risk. Still, engagement in physical activity is alarmingly low in African American men. While interventions to improve physical activity engagement are effective in several populations, very few have been tailored to the unique needs of African American men. Even fewer have leveraged mobile health apps, despite African American men’s interest in and willingness to use such technologies for health improvement.

Now a multi-disciplinary research team from Klein Buendel, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and three universities is conducting a comparative effectiveness trial that aims to evaluate MobileMen, a physical activity promotion app tailored to the needs and preferences of African American men. The team has published the plans and methods for the trial in JMIR Research Protocols.

The trial compares the MobileMen app to a commercially available physical activity promotion app with similar features but without culturally tailored components. Specifically, the study is recruiting a sample of 100 “low active” (less than 7500 steps per day) African American men aged 30 years or older from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and its surrounding communities. All participants are given a Fitbit Charge 6 wearable activity tracker to assess daily physical and steps. Participants are randomly assigned to either the MobileMen intervention app or a comparator app. The intervention period is six months, during which participants will interact with their assigned mobile app.

MobileMen includes features such as digital badges earned for physical activity, tangible prizes like exercise equipment, challenges among participants, goal setting, nutrition, physical activity, and behavior change educational information in text, audio, and video formats.

Participants complete assessments at baseline and at six months after random assignment. Assessments include objective measurements of daily steps and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, quality of life, dietary measures, self-efficacy for fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity, and autonomous motivation for physical activity. Detailed descriptions of measures and methods can be found in the JMIR Research Protocols paper.

Mobile apps are a widely accessible means to disseminate culturally tailored physical activity promotion interventions to various populations, including African American men. MobileMen has the potential to impact physical engagement in African American men, to help improve the overall health and chronic disease risk in this underrepresented population.

This research is funded by an STTR Fast Track grant to Klein Buendel from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (MD014947). The Principal Investigator is Dr. Robert Newton from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Authors on this paper include Callie Hebert, Phillip Nauta, and Dr. Robert Newton from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center; Dr. April Stull from Baylor University; Dr. Damon Swift from the University of Virginia; Dr. Derek Griffith from the University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Kayla Nuss, Amanda Brice, and Dr. David Buller from Klein Buendel. The MobileMen app was programmed by the Klein Buendel Creative Team.

Collaborator Spotlight:
Dr. Robert Newton

Collaborator Spotlight:
Dr. Robert Newton

Robert Newton, Jr., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Physical Activity and Ethnic Minority Health Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) at Louisiana State University. He has collaborated with Dr. Valerie Myers for several years – most recently on the Healthy Detours project funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the MobileMen project funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

In Phase I of the MobileMen project, a prototype mobile app to track physical activity, tailored to African American men ages 18 to 45, was developed. The goal was to help African American men in the maintenance phase of physical activity to remain actively physically active. Currently, Dr. Newton and Dr. Myers are working on funding for Phase II of MobileMen. In Phase II, all features of the full mobile app will be programmed and evaluated with the target population.

More broadly, Dr. Newton’s research addresses health disparities experienced by the African American community. Much of his work addresses the design and development of physical activity interventions and he also conducts weight loss research. He develops community-based and technologically-driven interventions to promote physical activity, weight management, and weight loss among African American adolescents, adults, and older adults.

Currently, Dr. Newton leads studies assessing the effect of a community-based physical activity intervention in older African American adults and a mobile phone-based intervention targeting increased physical activity in young children. He is also involved in two primary care weight management programs and several childhood physical activity and/or weight management studies.

Dr. Newton has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Florida. Outside of his work at PBRC, Dr. Newton is the Healthy Equity Special Interest Group Chair for the Society of Behavioral Medicine and is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine.