Recruiting

Social Ties

Sponsor:

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Code:

NCT06335810

Conditions

Obesity

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Social Network Intervention

Individual Lifestyle Intervention

Social Network Member

Study Details

Brief summary:

This trial aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of addressing interpersonal barriers to weight-related behavior change. Specifically, the study will test if, by including up to two friends, family members, or co-workers in a lifestyle intervention for weight loss, the person enrolled in the study loses more weight than someone whose friends, family members, or co-workers were not invited to participate.

Conditions

Obesity

Study ID

NCT06335810

Start date

Apr 5, 2024

Status verified date

Mar, 2026

Completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Index Participant:

1. Black race or Hispanic ethnicity
2. Male or Female 18 years of age or older
3. Calculated BMI > 30kg/m2 from objectively measured height and weight by study staff
4. Access \& willingness to use program food intake app via home computer or a smartphone
5. Ability to identify at least one adult social network member who will participate in the study
  • Social Network Member:

1. Male or Female 18 years of age or older
2. Access to the internet or a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Index Participant:

1. Active enrollment in a weight-loss program, use of weight-loss medications, or planning weight-loss surgery
2. Advanced medical illness, dementia, hospitalization, injury, or pregnancy that inhibits regular physical activity
3. Contraindications to exercise based on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire or lack of clearance from a health care provider
4. Unresolved Food insecurity
5. Speaks a language other than English or Spanish
  • Social Network Member:

1. Speaks a language other than English or Spanish

Study Design

Enrollment

264 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Other

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Social Network Intervention

Participants will complete 3 communication skills sessions with their social network members during weeks 3, 5, and 15.

placebo comparator: Individual Lifestyle Intervention

Participants will complete standard diabetes prevention program (DPP) based health coaching sessions during weeks 3, 5, and 15.

other: Social Network Member

Social Network Members will complete 3 communication skills sessions with the social network intervention participant during weeks 3, 5, and 15.

Interventions

Social Network Intervention

Social Network interventions are an intentional effort to modify or use the characteristics of social networks to improve, generate, and maintain healthy behaviors among individuals and populations. This study will focus on implementing a behavioral social-network intervention to promote changes in weight loss behaviors.

Individual Lifestyle Intervention

The individual lifestyle intervention will serve as the control group and will implement the use of DPP based health coaching sessions to promote individual level changes in weight loss behaviors.

Social Network Member

The social network member will serve as the friend, family member, or co-worker nominated to participate in the social network intervention by the social network intervention participant.

Primary outcome measure

  • Number of participants who have attended at least 75 percent of the behavioral coaching sessions [ Time Frame: End of study (24 weeks) ]
  • Number of intervention participants who have at least one social network member engage in the study [ Time Frame: End of Study (24 weeks) ]
  • Number of participants and social network members combined who complete the final study assessment [ Time Frame: End of Study (24 Weeks) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Rosio Ramos, BS

646-962-5037ror2023@med.cornell.edu

Anika Lewis, MS

ale4008@med.cornell.edu

Locations

Weill Cornell Medicine

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 10065

Contacts

Anika Lewis, MS

646-962-9209ale4008@med.cornell.edu

Erica Phillips, MD, MS

646-962-5013

Principal Investigator:

Erica Phillips, MD, MS

More Information

Sponsor

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Last update posted

Apr 1, 2026

Last verified

Mar, 2026

Keywords

  • Weight Loss
  • Undermining
  • Communication

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Weill Medical College of Cornell University on 2026-04-01.