@Article{info:doi/10.2196/jmir.1841,
author="Turner-McGrievy, Gabrielle
and Tate, Deborah",
title="Tweets, Apps, and Pods: Results of the 6-Month Mobile Pounds Off Digitally (Mobile POD) Randomized Weight-Loss Intervention Among Adults",
journal="J Med Internet Res",
year="2011",
month="Dec",
day="20",
volume="13",
number="4",
pages="e120",
keywords="Weight loss; obesity; podcasts as topic; social support",
abstract="Background: Previous interventions have shown promising results using theory-based podcasts to deliver a behavioral weight-loss intervention. Objective: The objective of our study was to examine whether a combination of podcasting, mobile support communication, and mobile diet monitoring can assist people in weight loss. Methods: In this 6-month, minimal contact intervention, overweight (n = 96, body mass index 32.6 kg/m2) adults were recruited through television advertisements and email listservs and randomly assigned to Podcast-only or Podcast+Mobile groups. Both groups received 2 podcasts per week for 3 months and 2 minipodcasts per week for months 3--6. In addition to the podcasts, the Podcast+Mobile group was also instructed to use a diet and physical activity monitoring application (app) on their mobile device and to interact with study counselors and other participants on Twitter. Results: Weight loss did not differ by group at 6 months: mean --2.7{\%} (SD 5.6{\%}) Podcast+Mobile, n = 47; mean --2.7{\%} (SD 5.1{\%}) Podcast, n = 49; P = .98. Days/week of reported diet monitoring did not differ between Podcast+Mobile (mean 2.3, SD 1.9 days/week) and Podcast groups (mean 1.9, SD 1.7 days/week; P = .28) but method of monitoring did differ. Podcast+Mobile participants were 3.5 times more likely than the Podcast group to use an app to monitor diet (P = .01), whereas the majority of Podcast participants reported using the Web (14/41, 34{\%}) or paper (12/41, 29{\%}). There were more downloads per episode in the Podcast+Mobile group (1.4/person) than in the Podcast group (1.1/person; P < .001). The number of podcasts participants reported downloading over the 6-month period was significantly moderately correlated with weight loss in both the Podcast+Mobile (r = --.46, P = .001) and the Podcast (r = --.53, P < .001) groups. Podcast+Mobile participants felt more user control at 3 months (P = .02), but not at 6 months, and there was a trend (P = .06) toward greater elaboration among Podcast+Mobile participants. There were significant differences in reported source of social support between groups. More Podcast participants relied on friends (11/40, 28{\%} vs 4/40, 10{\%}; P = .045) whereas Podcast+Mobile participants relied on online sources (10/40, 25{\%} vs 0/40; P = .001). Conclusions: Results confirm and extend previous findings showing a minimally intensive weight-loss intervention can be delivered via podcast, but prompting and mobile communication via Twitter and monitoring app without feedback did not enhance weight loss. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01139255; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01139255 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/625OjhiDy) ",
issn="1438-8871",
doi="10.2196/jmir.1841",
url="http://www.jmir.org/2011/4/e120/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1841",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22186428"
}