German Clinical Trials Register

Acronym/abbreviation of the study

HASCI-1

URL of the study

https://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/arbeitsbereiche/gesund/forschung/HASCI-Studie/index.html

Brief summary in lay language

Active commuting, i.e. walking, cycling and using public transport to get to work, aims to both promote physical activity and reduce environmental impact and thus has the potential to contribute to many of the United Nations' so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How people get to work is often a highly automated behavior, that many people perform with high frequency and without thinking about it. Research has shown that an existing habit can lead to the formation of a new habit through the repeated performance of a new behavior in the same context (habit substitution). While longitudinal studies on habit formation have so far primarily examined the formation of new habits for healthy eating and exercise, habit substitution has remained a less considered aspect of habit research. Active commuting provides an optimal context to investigate how an existing and less active commuting habit (e.g., using the car) can be replaced by a new more active commuting habit (e.g., use of public transport). This online study aims to examine psychological factors using a daily diary study design. During the intervention, participants are asked to commute to work more actively and sustainably. To examine this process, participants will respond to questionnaires in six 5-day (Monday to Friday) survey waves with three daily measurements: before commuting to work, after commuting to work, and at the end of the day.

Brief summary in scientific language

Active commuting, that is, walking, cycling, and using public transport to get to work (instead of car use), has the potential to target both the promotion of a health behavior (i.e., physical activity) as well as the reduction of environmental pollution (Eurostat, 2021; Fact Sheets on the European Union, 2021). How people get to work is often a highly habitual behavior that is performed automatically over a long period of time. Psychological strategies for behavior change (e.g., action planning; Schwarzer, 2008) may support the formation of new active commuting habits (Keller et al., 2021). While prior studies mainly focused on habit formation in the context of healthy nutrition and specific physical exercises (Fournier et al., 2017; Keller et al., 2021; Lally et al., 2010), habit substitution, i.e., replacing an old habit with a new one, remains an under-studied tenet in habit research. The commuting context is suitable to examine how an old commuting habit can be substituted by a new more active and sustainable commuting habit (e.g., cycling; Gardner et al., 2021; Verplanken & Roy, 2016). This one-arm online intervention study aims to promote the substitution of existing commuting habits with more active and sustainable commuting behaviors (e.g., using public transport instead of car). Moreover, psychological factors referring to the new commuting behavior will be examined using an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA; Shiffman et al., 2008) study design. It is planned to enroll at least 80 adults from the Berlin metropolitan region who regularly commute to work for five days a week (Monday to Friday) and plan to commute to work more actively and sustainably in the future. The study includes six measurement bursts over a 96-day period, with one measurement burst prior and five measurement bursts, each two weeks apart, following the intervention. Each measurement period will consist of five consecutive workdays (i.e., Mondays through Fridays) with three daily EMA surveys on psychological factors (e.g., current positive and negative affect), that are administered (1) before commuting to work, (2) after commuting to work, and (3) at the end of the workday. During the intervention, participants plan to perform a self-selected commuting behavior (e.g., cycling) following a self-selected everyday situation (e.g., after putting on shoes), which serves as a cue to trigger the new commuting behavior. The primary outcomes of the study are automaticity of the newly planned commuting behavior (as an indicator of habitual initiation of the commuting behavior) as well as the change in positive and negative affect from pre- to post-commuting measured on 25 days over a time span of 86 days. Secondary outcomes include the enactment of the planned commuting behavior, the type and duration of the commuting behavior, intrinsic reward and regret as a result of the commuting behavior, action control, and self-efficacy.