Physical InactivityMATCH AIMNCT07593677
Motivating Activity Through Text Communications - Helping Adults Increase Movement
A study testing Text Messaging Intervention in people with Physical Inactivity and Aging, run by University of Michigan at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the effect of different types of text messages on physical activity levels of middle-aged and older adults and to determine whether these messages are effective in adults age 40 and older who are engaging in less than 90 minutes per week of moderate or higher intensity… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 40 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Physical Inactivity, Aging, Cognitive Ability
- What is being tested?
- Text Messaging Intervention
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 150 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 11 May 2026to 2 Aug 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
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 40 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Be 40 years of age or older
- Own a smartphone running an Android or iOS operating system
- Have proficiency with the English language
- Be capable of providing informed consent
- Be able to perform moderate physical activity without restrictions
- Be willing to complete the entire 6-month protocol
- Be willing to establish a 12-hour window - beginning no later than 9:45 am and ending no later than 9:45 pm - for receiving text messages.
Who cannot join
- Residing outside of the continental United States
- Self-reporting 90 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week
- contraindications to normal physical activity as identified on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
- Mobility restrictions that interfere with unassisted physical activity
- Being pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the study
- Planning to undergo surgery during the course of the study protocol
Show all 10Show fewer
- Having a prior diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia
- Evidence of mild cognitive impairment as indicated by a mini-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test score of 12 or higher
- Concurrent participation in another study involving weight loss or physical activity
- Failure to respond to at least 85% of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) prompts during the 7-day qualification phase.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109
David E Conroy, PhD, 734-647-8404, deconroy@umich.edu
Ann M Mehringer, 734-647-6050, amehring@umich.edu
About this study
Official title: Motivating Activity Through Text - Comparing Human and AI Messages (MATCH AIM) Trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the effect of different types of text messages on physical activity levels of middle-aged and older adults and to determine whether these messages are effective in adults age 40 and older who are engaging in less than 90 minutes per week of moderate or higher intensity physical activity. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Which types of motivational messages show the greatest effects on changes in daily step counts in a 3-month precision text messaging intervention?
- What are the effects of personalized text messages on automatic affective evaluations, habit strength (experienced automaticity), exercise identity, working memory capacity, and processing speed?
Read more
Participants will:
- Wear a Fitbit activity tracker continuously for 3 months and are encouraged to continue wearing it through 6 months.
- Wear an activPAL activity monitor on their thigh for 7-day assessment periods at the beginning of the study, at 3 months, and at 6 months.
- Complete 3 cognitive assessments ("brain games") per day on their smartphone during the 7-day assessment periods at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months.
- Be asked to set goals to increase their daily steps over the first 3 months of the study.
- Receive up to 4 motivational text messages per day for 3 months to encourage physical activity.
- Keep study-related apps (Fitbit app, AIM app, MetricWire app) open in the background on their smartphone.
- Complete questionnaires at the beginning of the study, at 3 months, and at 6 months
- Conditions
- Physical Inactivity, Aging, Cognitive Ability, Behavior Change
- Being tested
- Text Messaging Intervention
- Keywords
- physical activity, behavioral adherence, motivation, cognitive function, aging, older adults, text messaging
- Medical subject headings
- Sedentary Behavior, Motor Activity
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Text Messaging InterventionBehavioural
Participants will receive up to 4 motivational text messages per day during a self-selected 12-hour window. These messages focus on two content areas: 1) Move more, and 2) sit less. Delivery of these messages occurs in two phases:
- Random AIM (month 1): Messages are sent at random times within the participant's window to collect baseline data on their behavioral responses.
- Precision AIM (months 2 and 3): Messages are sent at optimized times based on person-specific models that are created from the individual's previous responses to text messages from month 1.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Validated library of text messages | Active comparator | Participants in this arm will receive motivational text messages that have been written and used in previous studies. Receives: Behavioral: Text Messaging Intervention |
| Newly created text messages | Experimental | Participants in this arm will receive motivational text messages that have not been used in previous studies. Receives: Behavioral: Text Messaging Intervention |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Daily Step Count
The primary outcome measure is the average daily step count, which is assessed using a blinded, research-grade activPAL activity monitor, worn on the thigh for a 7-day assessment period.
Measured: The activPAL is worn on the thigh for a 7-day assessment period before the intervention begins (baseline), after 3 months of intervention, and then again 3 months after the intervention is complete. The total time frame is 6 months.
Secondary outcomes (5)
Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Adherence: Habit Strength
Habit Strength will be assessed using the Behavioral Automaticity Index from the Self-Report Habit Index to measure how automatic the exercise behavior has become. Scores are calculated as the average item responses and range from 1 to 7 with higher scores reflecting greater experienced automaticity (i.e., stronger habits).
Measured: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (month 6).
Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Adherence: Exercise Identity (Reflective)
Exercise Identity will be assessed using the Exercise Identity Scale to see how much participants view themselves as "exercisers". Scores are based on the average item response and range from 1 to 7 with higher scores representing a stronger exercise identity.
Measured: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (month 6).
Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Adherence: Automatic Affective Evaluations
Automatic Affective Evaluations will be assessed using a Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SCIAT) to assess non-conscious attitudes toward physical activity. Scores are standardized mean differences of response times between blocks of trials where physical activity is paired with unpleasant attributes and blocks of trials where physical activity is paired with pleasant attributes. Higher scores indicate more favorable automatic affective evaluations of physical activity.
Measured: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (month 6).
Ambulatory Cognitive Function: Processing Speed
Processing Speed will be assessed with the Mobile Monitoring of Cognitive Change (M2C2) Symbol Search Task. Scores are based on response times for accurate trials so there is no fixed range for scores. Shorter response times indicate faster (better) processing speed; longer response times indicate slower (worse) processing speed.
Measured: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: Baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (6 month).
Ambulatory Cognitive Function: Working Memory Capacity
Working Memory Capacity will be measured using the M2C2 Grid Memory Task. Scores are based on response accuracy measured as a Euclidean distance score. Shorter distance scores indicate more working memory capacity; longer distance scores indicate less working memory capacity.
Measured: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: Baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (6 month).
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted18 May 2026
- Study start11 May 2026
- Primary completion3 May 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion2 Aug 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Physical InactivityStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of MichiganThe 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
- Other
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Quadruple blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 150 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Michigan
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, David Conroy, University of Michigan
- Investigators
- David E Conroy, PhD, Principal investigator, University of Michigan
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07593677
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- HUM00262651
- Other IDs
- P30AG086637
- Acronym
- MATCH AIM
- Status last verified
- Jul 2026
- First submitted
- 4 May 2026
- Last updated
- 31 Jul 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: De-identified individual participant data (IPD) underlying the results reported in primary and secondary publications will be shared. This includes baseline behavioral metrics, coarsened demographics, post-intervention outcomes, and follow-up data. To protect participant privacy, all data will be stripped of direct identifiers, ages will be binned into 5-to-10-year bands, geographic markers restricted to broad regions, and timeline dates converted to "days since randomization." Raw, free-text qualitative journal entries will be suppressed entirely due to re-identification risks.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 31 Jul 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Motivating Activity Through Text - Comparing Human and AI Messages (MATCH AIM) Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07593677
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- MATCH AIM / HUM00262651
- Conditions
- Physical Inactivity, Aging, Cognitive Ability, Behavior Change
- Keywords
- physical activity, behavioral adherence, motivation, cognitive function, aging, older adults, text messaging
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 150 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University of MichiganUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- Study start
- 11 May 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 3 May 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 2 Aug 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 18 May 2026 (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.
The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the effect of different types of text messages on physical activity levels of middle-aged and older adults and to determine whether these messages are effective in adults age 40 and older who are engaging in less than 90 minutes per week of moderate or higher intensity physical activity. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Which types of motivational messages show the greatest effects on changes in daily step counts in a 3-month precision text messaging intervention?
- What are the effects of personalized text messages on automatic affective evaluations, habit strength (experienced automaticity), exercise identity, working memory capacity, and processing speed?
Participants will:
- Wear a Fitbit activity tracker continuously for 3 months and are encouraged to continue wearing it through 6 months.
- Wear an activPAL activity monitor on their thigh for 7-day assessment periods at the beginning of the study, at 3 months, and at 6 months.
- Complete 3 cognitive assessments ("brain games") per day on their smartphone during the 7-day assessment periods at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months.
- Be asked to set goals to increase their daily steps over the first 3 months of the study.
- Receive up to 4 motivational text messages per day for 3 months to encourage physical activity.
- Keep study-related apps (Fitbit app, AIM app, MetricWire app) open in the background on their smartphone.
- Complete questionnaires at the beginning of the study, at 3 months, and at 6 months
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Quadruple blind (participant, care provider, investigator, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Validated library of text messages | Active comparator | Behavioral: Text Messaging InterventionParticipants in this arm will receive motivational text messages that have been written and used in previous studies. |
| Newly created text messages | Experimental | Behavioral: Text Messaging InterventionParticipants in this arm will receive motivational text messages that have not been used in previous studies. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 40 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Be 40 years of age or older
- Own a smartphone running an Android or iOS operating system
- Have proficiency with the English language
- Be capable of providing informed consent
- Be able to perform moderate physical activity without restrictions
Key exclusion criteria (10 listed)
- Residing outside of the continental United States
- Self-reporting 90 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week
- contraindications to normal physical activity as identified on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
- Mobility restrictions that interfere with unassisted physical activity
- Being pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the study
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Text Messaging InterventionParticipants will receive up to 4 motivational text messages per day during a self-selected 12-hour window. These messages focus on two content areas: 1) Move more, and 2) sit less. Delivery of these messages occurs in two phases: 1. Random AIM (month 1): Messages are sent at random times within the participant's window to collect baseline data on their behavioral responses. 2. Precision AIM (months 2 and 3): Messages are sent at optimized times based on person-specific models that are created from the individual's previous responses to text messages from month 1. | Behavioural | Newly created text messages, Validated library of text messages |
Primary outcome
Daily Step Count
Time frame: The activPAL is worn on the thigh for a 7-day assessment period before the intervention begins (baseline), after 3 months of intervention, and then again 3 months after the intervention is complete. The total time frame is 6 months.
The primary outcome measure is the average daily step count, which is assessed using a blinded, research-grade activPAL activity monitor, worn on the thigh for a 7-day assessment period.
5 secondary outcomes
Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Adherence: Habit Strength
Time frame: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (month 6).
Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Adherence: Exercise Identity (Reflective)
Time frame: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (month 6).
Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Adherence: Automatic Affective Evaluations
Time frame: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (month 6).
Ambulatory Cognitive Function: Processing Speed
Time frame: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: Baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (6 month).
Ambulatory Cognitive Function: Working Memory Capacity
Time frame: These secondary outcomes are collected at the same major time points as the primary outcome: Baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and follow-up (6 month).
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 31 Jul 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. De-identified individual participant data (IPD) underlying the results reported in primary and secondary publications will be shared. This includes baseline behavioral metrics, coarsened demographics, post-intervention outcomes, and follow-up data. To protect participant privacy, all data will be stripped of direct identifiers, ages will be binned into 5-to-10-year bands, geographic markers restricted to broad regions, and timeline dates converted to "days since randomization." Raw, free-text qualitative journal entries will be suppressed entirely due to re-identification risks.
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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.
David E Conroy, PhD principal investigator
University of Michigan
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Text Messaging Intervention in people with Physical Inactivity and Aging, run by University of Michigan 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?
The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 10 exclusion criteria. 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: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 31 Jul 2026. 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?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Ann M Mehringer (734-647-6050, amehring@umich.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Daily Step Count (time frame: The activPAL is worn on the thigh for a 7-day assessment period before the intervention begins (baseline), after 3 months of intervention, and then again 3 months after the intervention is complete. The total time frame is 6 months.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
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 31 Jul 2026.