Overweight AdolescentsNCT06985251
CommitFit App to Facilitate Health Behavior Change in Clinic Adolescents
A study testing gamified mHealth lifestyle app and gamified mHealth app with financial incentives in people with Overweight Adolescents, run by University of Missouri-Columbia at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
We conducted a 3-month RCT with 30 adolescents (aged 13-15 years) and their caregivers to evaluate the effectiveness of the novel mHealth app "CommitFit", which uses gamification to motivate users to log and achieve health behavior goals. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 13 to 15 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Overweight Adolescents
- What is being tested?
- gamified mHealth lifestyle app and gamified mHealth app with financial incentives
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 60 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 29 Aug 2023to 23 Feb 2024
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 13 to 15 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child
Inclusion Criteria: speak English fluently, read at the 6th grade level or higher, and be proficient with smart phone app use to participate. Caregivers much bet at least 18 years or older. No baseline weight criteria.
-
Exclusion Criteria: severe mental health disorders (other than mild or controlled anxiety and/or depression), intellectual disabilities, or eating disorders via a screening survey
-
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
South Providence Medical Park
Columbia, Missouri, 65203
About this study
We conducted a 3-month RCT with 30 adolescents (aged 13-15 years) and their caregivers to evaluate the effectiveness of the novel mHealth app "CommitFit", which uses gamification to motivate users to log and achieve health behavior goals. The RCT had three arms: (1) CommitFit only users, (2) CommitFit$, adolescents were paid $0.05 for each point they earned, and (3) Control. Software analytics, surveys, BMI, and blood pressure were evaluated at baseline, 3 months, and 4 months.
Read the detailed description
We will recruit 30 adolescents and 30 caregivers to beta test CommitFit. The study will be limited to one participating adolescent and one of their caregivers. There will be three groups in the study: 1) Control 2) CommitFit and 3) CommitFit$.
All participants will be required to complete a screening survey at the beginning of the study. The eligible participants will be contacted via email/ phone and will give their consent after taking the screening survey, and then they will take the baseline demographic survey for their adolescents and themselves.
After the participants in the CommitFit and CommitFit$ groups download the app, they will be shown how to pick a health behavior (fruits/vegetables, water, decreased sugary beverages, physical activity, sleep) and then set a goal and a time period to work on their goal. They will receive a daily reminder to log their health behaviors. At the end of their goal period, they will be rewarded with points for logging behaviors and successfully achieving their goals. Points will be used to rank the participant on the leaderboard using the username that they registered with. Users can also use points to unlock gear for their avatar in the gear store. Control group participants will receive email handouts with healthy lifestyle tips which they could use if they choose to. They will not use the CommitFit app. All participants will be compensated through eGift cards.
Software analytics will be utilized to evaluate how the app was used (frequency of goals set and behaviors logged), duration of use, etc., to evaluate app features and gamification techniques. We will evaluate changes in health behaviors using online surveys, and measure health metrics (height and weight which will be used to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI), and blood pressure) in the clinic.
We will have the adolescents take 7 surveys-GAD7, PedQL, Reasons why I think about being healthy, Behavior economics survey, Gamification Survey, CommitFit App Survey, and Commercialization Survey (CommitFit and CommitFit$ only for use surveys). Similarly, we will have the caregivers take 4 surveys Gamification Survey, CommitFit App Survey, Behavior economics survey, and Commercialization Survey for caregiver subject. In the control group, adolescents will only take 4 surveys- GAD7, PedQL, Reasons why I think about being healthy, and Behavior economics survey. Caregivers in the control group will take only the Behavioral Economic survey. All participants will take the surveys at the beginning of the study, after end of 3rd month, and at the end of the 4th month (follow-up visit). Weight, height and blood pressure from all adolescents and their caregivers will also be collected at the clinical site. All participants completed the 5-10 minute paper exit survey and interview at their final 4-month clinic visit.
- Conditions
- Overweight Adolescents
- Being tested
- gamified mHealth lifestyle app, Attention Control, gamified mHealth app with financial incentives
- Keywords
- mHealth, obesity, adolescent, parent, caregiver, financial incentives, behavior modification, user engagement
- Medical subject headings
- Obesity
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
gamified mHealth lifestyle appOther
The CommitFit mHealth app uses gamification techniques to motivate adolescents and caregivers to set and achieve health behavior goals (eat more fruits or vegetables, increase water intake, decrease sugary beverage intake, increase physical activity, or increase overnight sleep). Users are ranked on leaderboard based on their points and can team up with caregivers on a team leaderboard.
Attention ControlOther
Standard of care healthy lifestyle handouts were emailed monthly to control families.
gamified mHealth app with financial incentivesOther
The CommitFit mHealth app uses gamification techniques to motivate adolescents and caregivers to set and achieve health behavior goals (eat more fruits or vegetables, increase water intake, decrease sugary beverage intake, increase physical activity, or increase overnight sleep). Users are ranked on leaderboard based on their points and can team up with caregivers on a team leaderboard. CommitFit$ adolescents received an extra $0.05 for each point they earned in the app.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| CommitFit$ | Experimental | Adolescents in CommitFit$ were paid $0.05 for each point they earned when using app Receives: Other: gamified mHealth app with financial incentives |
| CommitFit | Experimental | Caregivers and Adolescents using CommitFit app without additional financial incentives Receives: Other: gamified mHealth lifestyle app |
| Control | Active comparator | Attention, wait-list controls were emailed monthly healthy lifestyle handouts and were allowed to download CommitFit after 4 month study period ended. Receives: Other: Attention Control |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
BMI percentile
Change in BMI percentile for adolescents
Measured: Baseline to 4 months
Secondary outcomes (2)
BMI
Change in BMI in adult caregivers
Measured: Baseline to 4 months
%goal achieved
Number of times the user achieved their self-selected health behavior goal divided by the number of possible times they could have achieved health behavior goal. Users can achieve up to 2 goals per day, every day.
Measured: Baseline to 4 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted22 May 2025
- Study start29 Aug 2023
- Primary completion23 Feb 2024
- Study completion23 Feb 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (2)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Overweight AdolescentsStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of Missouri-ColumbiaThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Missouri-Columbia
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Amy Braddock, University of Missouri-Columbia
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06985251
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2092610
- Status last verified
- May 2025
- First submitted
- 14 May 2025
- Last updated
- 22 May 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: The final dataset will include survey data, analytic data generated from the mHealth CommitFit app software, anthropometrics (height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference), and survey data. To protect the identities of participants, all data will be deidentified before final storage and sharing.
Publications
Braddock A, Ghosh P, Montgomery E, Lim C, Ghosh J, Henry N, Popescu M, Kimchi K, Guo C, Bosworth KT, Koopman RJ. Effectiveness of an mHealth App That Uses Financial Incentives and Gamification to Promote Health Behavior Change in Adolescents and Caregivers: Protocol for a Clinic-Based Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 Sep 10;13:e63505. doi: 10.2196/63505.
PubMed 39255473Henry N, Montgomery E, Ghosh P, Bosworth KT, Lim C, Ghosh J, Popescu M, Kimchi K, Guo C, Smith J, Braddock A. Caregiver inclusion influence on adolescent acceptance and engagement of an mHealth app, a randomized controlled trial. Mhealth. 2025 Oct 29;11:57. doi: 10.21037/mhealth-24-97. eCollection 2025.
PubMed 41211016
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 22 May 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- CommitFit App to Facilitate Health Behavior Change in Clinic Adolescents
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06985251
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2092610
- Conditions
- Overweight Adolescents
- Keywords
- mHealth, obesity, adolescent, parent, caregiver, financial incentives, behavior modification, user engagement
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of Missouri-ColumbiaUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 29 Aug 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 23 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 23 Feb 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 22 May 2025 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
We conducted a 3-month RCT with 30 adolescents (aged 13-15 years) and their caregivers to evaluate the effectiveness of the novel mHealth app "CommitFit", which uses gamification to motivate users to log and achieve health behavior goals. The RCT had three arms: (1) CommitFit only users, (2) CommitFit$, adolescents were paid $0.05 for each point they earned, and (3) Control. Software analytics, surveys, BMI, and blood pressure were evaluated at baseline, 3 months, and 4 months.
Detailed description
We will recruit 30 adolescents and 30 caregivers to beta test CommitFit. The study will be limited to one participating adolescent and one of their caregivers. There will be three groups in the study: 1) Control 2) CommitFit and 3) CommitFit$.
All participants will be required to complete a screening survey at the beginning of the study. The eligible participants will be contacted via email/ phone and will give their consent after taking the screening survey, and then they will take the baseline demographic survey for their adolescents and themselves.
After the participants in the CommitFit and CommitFit$ groups download the app, they will be shown how to pick a health behavior (fruits/vegetables, water, decreased sugary beverages, physical activity, sleep) and then set a goal and a time period to work on their goal. They will receive a daily reminder to log their health behaviors. At the end of their goal period, they will be rewarded with points for logging behaviors and successfully achieving their goals. Points will be used to rank the participant on the leaderboard using the username that they registered with. Users can also use points to unlock gear for their avatar in the gear store. Control group participants will receive email handouts with healthy lifestyle tips which they could use if they choose to. They will not use the CommitFit app. All participants will be compensated through eGift cards.
Software analytics will be utilized to evaluate how the app was used (frequency of goals set and behaviors logged), duration of use, etc., to evaluate app features and gamification techniques. We will evaluate changes in health behaviors using online surveys, and measure health metrics (height and weight which will be used to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI), and blood pressure) in the clinic.
We will have the adolescents take 7 surveys-GAD7, PedQL, Reasons why I think about being healthy, Behavior economics survey, Gamification Survey, CommitFit App Survey, and Commercialization Survey (CommitFit and CommitFit$ only for use surveys). Similarly, we will have the caregivers take 4 surveys Gamification Survey, CommitFit App Survey, Behavior economics survey, and Commercialization Survey for caregiver subject. In the control group, adolescents will only take 4 surveys- GAD7, PedQL, Reasons why I think about being healthy, and Behavior economics survey. Caregivers in the control group will take only the Behavioral Economic survey. All participants will take the surveys at the beginning of the study, after end of 3rd month, and at the end of the 4th month (follow-up visit). Weight, height and blood pressure from all adolescents and their caregivers will also be collected at the clinical site. All participants completed the 5-10 minute paper exit survey and interview at their final 4-month clinic visit.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| CommitFit$ | Experimental | Other: gamified mHealth app with financial incentivesAdolescents in CommitFit$ were paid $0.05 for each point they earned when using app |
| CommitFit | Experimental | Other: gamified mHealth lifestyle appCaregivers and Adolescents using CommitFit app without additional financial incentives |
| Control | Active comparator | Other: Attention ControlAttention, wait-list controls were emailed monthly healthy lifestyle handouts and were allowed to download CommitFit after 4 month study period ended. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 13 to 15 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| gamified mHealth lifestyle appThe CommitFit mHealth app uses gamification techniques to motivate adolescents and caregivers to set and achieve health behavior goals (eat more fruits or vegetables, increase water intake, decrease sugary beverage intake, increase physical activity, or increase overnight sleep). Users are ranked on leaderboard based on their points and can team up with caregivers on a team leaderboard. | Other | CommitFit |
| Attention ControlStandard of care healthy lifestyle handouts were emailed monthly to control families. | Other | Control |
| gamified mHealth app with financial incentivesThe CommitFit mHealth app uses gamification techniques to motivate adolescents and caregivers to set and achieve health behavior goals (eat more fruits or vegetables, increase water intake, decrease sugary beverage intake, increase physical activity, or increase overnight sleep). Users are ranked on leaderboard based on their points and can team up with caregivers on a team leaderboard. CommitFit$ adolescents received an extra $0.05 for each point they earned in the app. | Other | CommitFit$ |
Primary outcome
BMI percentile
Time frame: Baseline to 4 months
Change in BMI percentile for adolescents
2 secondary outcomes
BMI
Time frame: Baseline to 4 months
%goal achieved
Time frame: Baseline to 4 months
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 22 May 2025.
- Background: PubMed 39255473Braddock A, Ghosh P, Montgomery E, Lim C, Ghosh J, Henry N, Popescu M, Kimchi K, Guo C, Bosworth KT, Koopman RJ. Effectiveness of an mHealth App That Uses Financial Incentives and Gamification to Promote Health Behavior Change in Adolescents and Caregivers: Protocol for a Clinic-Based Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 Sep 10;13:e63505. doi: 10.2196/63505.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 41211016Henry N, Montgomery E, Ghosh P, Bosworth KT, Lim C, Ghosh J, Popescu M, Kimchi K, Guo C, Smith J, Braddock A. Caregiver inclusion influence on adolescent acceptance and engagement of an mHealth app, a randomized controlled trial. Mhealth. 2025 Oct 29;11:57. doi: 10.21037/mhealth-24-97. eCollection 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. The final dataset will include survey data, analytic data generated from the mHealth CommitFit app software, anthropometrics (height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference), and survey data. To protect the identities of participants, all data will be deidentified before final storage and sharing.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing gamified mHealth lifestyle app and gamified mHealth app with financial incentives in people with Overweight Adolescents, run by University of Missouri-Columbia at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 May 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
BMI percentile (time frame: Baseline to 4 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06985251, which also lists 2 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 May 2025.