# A Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness-Implementation Study of Social Incentives Strategies to Increase Physical Activity

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $763,929

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Higher levels of physical activity have been found to improve health and to reduce cognitive decline as
adults become older, but more than half of all adults in the United States do not meet their activity goals.
Regular physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits and one type of physical activity that is
broadly applicable to people of all ages is walking. Programs to increase walking are both broadly feasible and
safe, and do not require unique training or specialized equipment. Walking is also measurable, with clearly
identifiable individual targets that are associated with health improvements.
 This study will use a Hybrid Type 1 effectiveness-implementation design to adapt, and test the
effectiveness of, two successful social incentive-based interventions to increase physical activity. Social
incentive-based interventions can harness and enhance an individual's social network to increase physical
activity, and can be more sustainable and scalable than financial incentives. The two interventions are a
gamification strategy and financial incentives donated to charity on the participant's behalf. Following an initial
phase of community-participatory adaptation of the two proven social-incentive intervention strategies, a
three-arm, cluster-randomized trial of 225 families will be conducted to evaluate the two social incentive
interventions in the community. The study aims include:
 1. To adapt our prior work to improve the implementation of interventions in the community among
 families that include at least one older adult.
 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of two social-incentive interventions among families to increase physical
 activity relative to control families.
 3. To conduct a robust process evaluation that will provide information on the implementation process.
 4. To assess the cost of each of the interventions from a societal perspective and compare cost
 differences between each intervention and control relative to the effectiveness measured by
 incremental increases in physical activity.
 5. To use findings from the effectiveness trial, process evaluation and cost analysis (Aims 2, 3 and 4) to
 scale-up and disseminate tools and products for use by community organizations locally and nationally.
 This study focuses on scalable approaches to address health disparities in physical activity by partnering
with community organizations in low-income and minority neighborhoods, using behavioral economics to
deploy low-cost social incentive interventions, and applying implementation science frameworks from the
Consolidated Framework for Intervention Research (CFIR) to improve adoption and dissemination. An
effectiveness-implementation study design will maximize contributions to science, public health practice, and
reduction of health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9972003
- **Project number:** 1R01HL152430-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Karen Glanz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $763,929
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9972003

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9972003, A Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness-Implementation Study of Social Incentives Strategies to Increase Physical Activity (1R01HL152430-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9972003. Licensed CC0.

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