An interventional study of Behavioral Exposure For Introceptive Tolerance and Health Education Control in Exercise Sensitivity, Introceptive Exposure and Anxiety, sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Recruiting at 3 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 40 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-12.
Sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
Behavioral Exposure for Interoceptive Tolerance (BE-FIT) is a mechanism-informed behavioral intervention to target exercise anxiety. The three primary components of BE-FIT include: (1) exposure to feared bodily sensations and exercise; (2) prevention of safety behavior use before/during/after exercise, and (3) use of a wrist-worn activity monitor for physical activity (PA) feedback and activity goal setting. Evidence from the investigators' Stage I trial indicated that BE-FIT is feasible, acceptable, and safe and produced reductions in exercise anxiety and increased exercise outcomes (short-term moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and steps/day). The investigators' present aim is to conduct a Stage II randomized-controlled trial to further evaluate the efficacy of BE-FIT in decreasing exercise anxiety in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) patients and examine whether changes in this target yield successive changes in exercise adherence outcomes.
This study is a Stage II randomized-controlled trial of a novel behavioral intervention, titled Behavioral Exposure for Interoceptive Tolerance (BE-FIT), to evaluate (1) its efficacy in improving exercise adherence in CR and (2) its mechanisms of change in individuals 40 years of age and older. One hundred and forty-six patients enrolled in Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJ) cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program who have elevated exercise anxiety, as indicated by endorsement of much to very much concern about at least 3 items on the Exercise Sensitivity Questionnaire (ESQ; Farris et al., 2020) and meet other eligibility criteria will be randomly assigned to either receive BE-FIT, a tailored intervention specifically for CR patients with high levels of exercise anxiety (n=73), or the health education condition (HEC; n=73), which are matched for contact time. Eligible participants will be stratified based on their risk profile (determined by their electronic health record), age, sex, and ESQ score. These stratification variables were selected because they are associated with anxiety and fitness levels which could impact physical activity (PA) outcomes. Both conditions will be administered by trained doctoral-level students enrolled at Rutgers University and will be supervised throughout the course of the study by Dr. Farris and other listed co-investigators.
The BE-FIT intervention is a cognitive-behavioral intervention and is designed to target exercise anxiety. The three main components of BE-FIT include: 1) exposure to feared bodily sensations and exercise, 2) prevention of safety behavior use before/during/after exercise, and 3) use of a wrist-worn activity monitor (Fitbit) for PA feedback and activity goal setting. The alternative type of intervention is the Health Education Control (HEC), which is a time-matched control intervention that will be delivered on the same delivery schedule as BE-FIT. The doctoral-level clinicians who will be delivering HEC will be exclusively trained in order to avoid contamination with the BE-FIT intervention. In this control arm, participants will be provided educational information about health topics relevant to healthy aging delivered through PowerPoint lectures and handouts and use a Fitbit for PA monitoring. The HEC protocol has been used in prior studies conducted by Dr. Abrantes (co-investigator).
The overall duration of the study is 24 weeks, or approximately 6 months. Subjects will be involved in 6 individual sessions delivered twice weekly during the initial weeks of outpatient CR. Sessions occur for 45 minutes either immediately before or after regularly scheduled CR sessions. Five independent assessments are conducted at baseline, EOT, and three follow-ups (Weeks 12, 18, 24). Data collection will occur at each visit, with baseline data collected at the initial visit.
7,201 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,682 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 146 is above the median of 80 across 6,057 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.
Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the lead sponsor of 506 studies on the registry; 131 are open to participants now.
Of its 39 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 31 (79%) have results posted.
Compared within Anxiety Disorders, the registry's first condition term, which may not be this study's main condition. Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily. How we classify →
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Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The BE-FIT intervention is a cognitive-behavioral intervention and is designed to target exercise anxiety. The three main components of BE-FIT include: 1) exposure to feared bodily sensations and exercise, 2) prevention of safety behavior use before/during/after exercise, and 3) use of a wrist-worn activity monitor (Fitbit) for PA feedback and activity goal setting.
Behavioral: Behavioral Exposure For Introceptive Tolerance
HEC is a time-matched control intervention that will be delivered on the same delivery schedule as BE-FIT. In this arm, participants will be provided educational information about health topics relevant to healthy aging delivered through PowerPoint lectures and handouts and use a Fitbit for PA monitoring.
Behavioral: Health Education Control
BE-FIT will consist of a 6-session one-on one program with a clinician that are approximately 45 minutes delivered, over the course of 3 weeks (twice/week). Sessions will coincide with scheduled cardiac rehabilitation sessions at RWJ Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. The elements of BE-FIT are (1) psychoeducation about avoidance/anxiety and values clarification and committed action for exercise and lifestyle PA; (2) graded, repeated exposure to bodily sensations and exercise to build tolerance of discomfort; (3) fading safety behaviors and elimination of exercise avoidance behaviors to promote tolerance of uncertainty and reduce catastrophizing; and (4) use of Fitbit activity tracker to facilitate physical activity monitoring and provide physical activity feedback and goal-setting.
Also known as: BEFIT
HEC is a time-matched control intervention that will be administered on the same delivery schedule as BE-FIT. The intervention content includes: (1) educational information about health topics relevant to healthy aging, and (2) Use of the Fitbit activity watch for PA monitoring. The 6 topics introduced in the HEC include: nutrition, sleep, brain health, emotional health, living with chronic conditions, how to be a smart patient. The health information will be conveyed through lectures and handouts. The goal of sessions will be to provide education, particularly as it relates to healthy aging. Patients will be given the same Fitbit as in the BE-FIT but will not be given PA goals.
Also known as: HEC
Overall minutes of exercise
Objectively measured exercise (moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity mins/day) on both CR and non-CR days.
Time frame: 24 weeks
Percent of prescribed cardiac rehabilitation attended.
Time frame: 24 weeks
Objectively measured Lifestyle PA (steps/day).
Time frame: 24 weeks
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No
Started May 2022 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Feb 2027, 57 months after the start.
Of 3,836 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Anxiety Disorders, half reached primary completion within 12 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 28. This study's planned 57 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 3,938 studies reached it within 12 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 28.
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Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey →