Without guidance many young military members gain about 5 pounds per year which can be detrimental to their health and military career.
Do you want to stay ahead of the game and maintain your healthy weight?
Fit for Duty may help you reach your health and fitness goals, so you win the game and it’s FREE!
Prevent weight gain by building healthier eating and activity habits
About Fit for Duty
The purpose of this study is to examine the use of two mobile health interventions designed to prevent weight gain in young adults in the military. The goal is to learn what is helpful to military members who wish to maintain a healthy weight. The Fit for Duty study is testing a program that uses digital tools to help young adults develop a healthier diet and activity habits by making lifestyle changes to manage their weight.
The Fit for Duty program is approved and monitored by the Department of Defense Institutional Review Board and conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is designed to help young military members ages 18-39 who are interested in preventing weight gain by building healthier eating and activity habits.
The 2-year program is delivered using a smartphone app and digital health tools. If you are eligible, you have the opportunity to participate in important research to help us understand more about how we can use mobile technologies to help young adults in the military adopt healthy habits. You’ve got what it takes to take control of your health!
You may be eligible if you:
Are currently age 18-39
Have a body mass index between 21 and 30 (use the calculator)
Own a smartphone with data and text messaging plan
You anticipate being at your duty station for at least 12 months
You are willing and able to wear a Fitbit tracker for the duration of the study
*Additional eligibility criteria apply.
What will I do in the program?
If you are eligible and enroll in Fit for Duty, you will be given education on the importance of weight gain prevention. You will also be given digital tools to use throughout the study period. These tools include a digital scale and a Fitbit activity tracker and are part of the treatment provided.
Upon consenting into the program, you will be asked to provide your contact and demographic information, as well as complete baseline questionnaires about your diet and physical activity at various intervals throughout the course of the study.
You will then be randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups:
Self Guided + Digital Tools or
Support + Digital Tools
All participants will be provided with a Bluetooth-enabled scale, Fitbit activity tracker, and information about healthy lifestyle approaches to preventing weight gain.
If you are assigned to the Support + Digital Tools group, you will also be given access to a smartphone-based weight gain prevention program and you will be encouraged to use it regularly during the study period.
While you are in the study, you may be asked to participate in up to 4 telephone coaching calls. You will also be asked to participate in 4 remote data collection visits (at baseline, 4 months, 12 months and 24 months), which include submitting a remote weight using a digital Smart scale and completing questionnaires at each time point
What are the benefits of participating?
Managing weight is an important factor to military readiness and retention. Research shows that young adulthood is a common time for weight gain, and that the weight gained puts you at higher risk for health problems later in life.
You may learn strategies to improve dietary behaviors, physical activity, and prevent weight gain over time, ultimately reducing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases and contributing to your ability to maintain status in the military.
There is no guarantee or promise of any direct benefit for you by participating in this study. We hope the information learned from this study may help future military members. Participants will be provided with a ‘bullet’ explaining this community service that you can use in annual performance reports or in award packages. When you complete follow-up questionnaires, you will receive health-related incentive gifts.
The results of this study could be used to develop an optimized weight gain prevention intervention that, if effective, could be generalizable to a larger population of young adults. If successful, an automated program that uses a smartphone and other relatively low-cost digital technologies that is optimized for effective treatment components could be disseminated in a larger-scale program, thus benefiting a greater number of young adults in the military.
Commit to Reach your Fit for Duty Goal!
Contact Us
If you would like to learn more about the study, call: 210-671-1993 or email: fit_4_duty@virginia.edu.
This study has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01 HL161836).