• A multiple technology-based physical activity intervention for Latina adolescents in the USA: randomized controlled trial study protocol for Chicas Fuertes

    stage 1 + 2verified

    Background: Background: Latina adolescents report low levels of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and high lifetime risk of lifestyle-related diseases. There is a lack of MVPA interventions targeted at this demographic despite documented health disparities. Given their high rates of using mobile technology, interventions delivered through mobile devices may be effective for this population. Objective: Objective: The current paper examines efficacy of the Chicas Fuertes intervention in increasing MVPA across six months in Latina adolescents. Methods: Methods: Participants were Latina adolescents (ages 13-18) in San Diego County who reported being underactive (<150 minutes/week of MVPA). All participants received a wearable fitness tracker (Fitbit Inspire HR); half were randomly assigned to also receive the multimedia intervention. Intervention components included a personally tailored website, personalized texting based on Fitbit data, and social media. The primary outcome was change in minutes of weekly MVPA from baseline to six months (6m), measured by ActiGraph accelerometers and the 7-Day Physical Activity Recall Interview. Changes in daily steps using Fitbit devices were also examined to test intervention efficacy. Results: Results: Participants (N=160) were 15.3 years old on average, and mostly second generation in the U.S. For ActiGraph-measured MVPA, participants in the Intervention group (N=83) increased from a median of 0 min/week at baseline (IQR 26) to 64 min/week at 6m (IQR 28) compared to Control participants, who showed increases from a median of 0 at baseline (IQR 24) to 41 min/week at 6m (IQR 21) (P=.04). Self-reported MVPA increased in the Intervention group from a median of 119 min/week at baseline (IQR 122.5) to 147 min/week at 6m (IQR 85) compared to Control participants, who showed increases from a median of 120 (IQR 186.25) at baseline to 124 min/week at 6m (IQR 69) (P=.03). Steps also increased in both groups, with the Intervention group showing significantly greater increases (P=.03). Conclusions: Conclusions: This intervention was successful in using a tailored technology-based strategy to increase MVPA in Latina adolescents and provides a promising approach for addressing a key health behavior. Given the scalable technology used, future studies should focus on broad scale dissemination to address health disparities. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04190225; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04190225?id=NCT04190225

    Jacob R. Carson, Emily Greenstadt, Brittany Olivera, Shira Dunsiger, Michelle Zive, Michael Higgins, Job Godino, Bess Marcus, Dawn Meyer, Britta Larsen·2025·JMIR mHealth and uHealth
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  • A preregistered study on the relation between religiosity, spirituality, and interoceptive sensibility

    stage 1 + 2verified
    open dataopen codeopen materials

    The relationship between body and mind plays an important role in many spiritual and religious experiences. Previous studies that looked into embodiment in the psychology of religion have mainly focused on the motoric system or embodied cognition phenomena. Despite interoceptive sensibility (IS) playing an important role in cognition, emotion, and well-being, a systematic investigation of the relationship between religiosity, spirituality, and IS has not yet been conducted. In this preregistered report, we performed such an investigation. We used established measures and collected data from a large sample to guarantee sufficient statistical power. We contrasted groups with different religious backgrounds (Christians n = 271, Buddhists n = 236, and Muslims, n = 229) to explore possible religious differences in the relationship between religiosity, spirituality, and IS. As expected, the results showed that adaptive forms of IS were linked to spirituality. Significant correlations between IS and spirituality were observed across all religious groups. However, contrary to our hypothesis, these associations were strongest among Christians rather than Buddhists. While spirituality showed significant correlations with IS, the correlations between religiosity and IS were mostly non-significant when accounting for the shared variance between spirituality and IS. Our results indicate that IS, as the inner dimension of embodiment, may be a fundamental factor in shaping spiritual experiences across diverse faiths and denominations. The preregistered analysis plan, materials, raw data, and the analysis code are publicly available.

    Johannes Michalak, Jan Philipp Röer, Kim Zierahn, Augustin Kelava·2025·Archive for the Psychology of Religion
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