We do not yet know the best way to support people to stay active as they get older. The AGILITY study will compare two approaches to determine which works best for health and wellbeing, and which offers the best value for the NHS.
The first approach is a three-month walking app programme (Group 1) and the second approach is standard advice (a leaflet about being active, Group 2). Both groups will receive a free NHS health-check.
AGILITY is a feasibility study to check our research strategy works before a larger study, and offers you the opportunity to help shape the future of research.
We have signed up four GP practices to recruit volunteers. We aim to recruit to 80 volunteers aged 55 or over from across England who aren’t active enough (less than 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week) and who own a smartphone and have an email address. Participants should have either recently completed completed an NHS Health Check or be willing to complete one on entering the study.
You will have received an invitation via text message from your GP practice if you are eligible. Unfortunately you can not sign up if you have not received an invitation at the moment.
A computer programme will randomly select which group - standard advice or the new programme - people are assigned to.
There is no clinical visit for this study – everything can be done remotely from home.
We will ask you to complete the following measures at the start of the study and at three months after you start the study:
Online questionnaires: We will ask questions about your health, physical activity levels, your height and weight and how you use healthcare services. This should take approximately 45 minutes.
A device to measure your activity: We will post you a device to wear on your wrist that measures your activity levels and how fast you walk. This device is called an accelerometer. We will ask you to wear it for 7 days and then send it back to us.
Sharing of Walking Data from your smartphone: Smartphones can track and store data on how much walking you do each day. We are interested in how much walking participants did on average in the month before joining the study, and in the third month of the study. We will ask you to download an app which will allow us to get this information from your phone. This will take 5 minutes. You will be offered £10 as thank-you once we receive this walking information.
Interviews: Some people will be asked to take part in an interview with a member of the study team.
At the end of the study, we will use these measures to compare Group 1 or Group 2, and to determine which worked best for health and wellbeing.
If you have been invited to take part in the AGILitY study, please read the Participant Information Sheet (link if clicked on). Please contact us on AGILITY.study@ims.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions.
