Can machine learning-driven goal setting increase physical activity? A cohort analytic study of 1,249 North American mHealth app users. (Preprint)

Le résumé fourni par la source

BACKGROUND Insufficient physical activity (PA) is a global pandemic associated with the development of noncommunicable diseases. OBJECTIVE To examine whether an mHealth PA intervention with financial incentives (FI) is improved with the incorporation of a machine learning (ML)-driven goal setting algorithm. METHODS A 17-week cohort analytic study was conducted among users of the Telus Wellbeing corporate wellness app, an mHealth PA intervention with FI targeting North American employees (March-June 2022). A five-week baseline period was followed by a 12-week intervention, during which users were randomized (1:2) into either (a) static goal (control), or (b) adaptive, ML-driven goal (intervention) groups. A linear mixed model (LMM) analyses compared baseline to Week 12 and was conducted to examine change in primary and secondary outcomes over the intervention period (p<0.05). Estimated marginal means (EMM) were reported across four time points (baseline, Week 4, Week 8, and Week 12). RESULTS A total of 1,249 participants (control: n=447; intervention: n=802) were included (59.6% 30-to-50 years old; 48.8% women; baseline steps: 6,313/day). LMM analyses suggest the overall weekly mean daily step count trend increased from baseline to Week 12 for the entire sample (i.e., mean difference [95% CI]: 607 [96-1118] steps/day; d=0.07; p=0.022). Regarding the primary study objective, groups did not differ significantly on weekly mean daily step count change from baseline to Week 12 (i.e., mean difference [95% CI]: 19 [-768-806] steps/day; d=0.001; p=0.960). CONCLUSIONS The Telus Wellbeing app increased mean daily step count over a 12-week period. A supervised ML-driven goal setting algorithm did not boost PA or app engagement, compared to static goal setting over 12 weeks. Future research should test refined ML-driven approaches with more diverse study samples that may better boost PA with mHealth intervention. CLINICALTRIAL This study was pre-registered at ClinicalTrials (NCT06388317), received institutional ethical approval and was conducted following the STROBE guidelines for cohort studies.

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