A Randomized Trial of Behaviorally Designed Gamification and Social Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Veterans

Despite the many associated health benefits, more than half of Veterans do not achieve enough regular physical activity. The investigators' prior work has demonstrated that gamification, a method commonly used for health promotion, can lead to sustained increases in physical activity if it is designed using insights from behavioral economics to enhance social incentives. In this study, the investigators will compare the effectiveness of behaviorally designed gamification that encourages Veterans to collaborate or compete on physical activity levels and examine clinical outcomes as well as costs, barriers and facilitators to implementation of the program within Veterans Affairs.

NCT Number	NCT05554601
Lead Sponsor	VA Office of Research and Development
Conditions	Hypertension, Obesity
Enrollment	725 participants
Start Date	2023-07-17
Primary Completion	2026-07-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-07-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-08-12