Knowledge Bank

Background: Over 60% of kidney transplant recipients do not meet the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity five days per week. The purpose of this research was to explore kidney transplant recipients using the Technology, Application, Self-Management for Kidney (TASK) intervention for 12 weeks and to obtain the preliminary estimate of the effects of the TASK intervention in producing change over time for scores in self-efficacy to exercise.

Theoretical Framework: The TASK intervention was adapted from the Plan-Do-Study-Act Model, which consists of 4 steps. "Plan" participants created a "plan" by setting goals for their activity level. "Do" implemented personalized solutions to existing routines to help achieve daily goals. "Study" evaluated goal progress via graphics from a mobile application (Lose-It). "Act" determined goal achievement.

Methods: The study consisted of a 12-week pre/post-test design. Participants were recruited from a Midwest Medical Center Kidney Transplant Clinic. Participants attended 12-weekly individual sessions remotely using the Zoom platform. During the 12 sessions, the participants completed the four steps of the Plan-Do-Study-Act Model and recorded their daily activity and diet using the Lose-It app. The Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale was utilized at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks.

Results: The sample consisted of N=20 participants. After 12 weeks of using the intervention, a significant increase in self-efficacy to exercise was found (baseline mean 61, vs. 12 weeks mean 81(95% CI [6.51, 27.6], d = 0.83, p = 0.003). Participants reported the least challenging area for participating in physical activity to be exercising alone (n=10, 59%) after 12 weeks of using the intervention, and the greatest challenge was feeling pain (n=2, 12%).

Conclusions: The data suggests that the TASK intervention was feasible for kidney recipients to use and resulted in increased self-efficacy to exercise. Future studies are needed to explore the underlying mechanism of engagement for using this mobile technology resulting in improvement in self-efficacy to exercise.

Role: Contributed to the literature review, data analysis, and abstract preparation.