Jason Fanning

Dr. Fanning is an Assistant Professor of Health and Exercise Science. He completed his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined continued to earn his PhD in Kinesiology with an emphasis on Exercise Psychology under the mentorship of Edward McAuley in 2016. He completed his post-doctoral training in the Sticht Center on Aging at the Wake Forest School of Medicine under Drs. W. Jack Rejeski and Barbara Nicklas.

Dr. Fanning joined the faculty of Wake Forest University in July 2019. His research interests center on better assessing and influencing the momentary causes and consequences of health behaviors such as diet and physical activity among older adults. He specializes in the development and implementation of technology to suit these research goals.

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Teaching

Dr. Fanning teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in health psychology (HES 312 & 733) and statistics in health sciences (HES 262 & 721).

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Publications

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Research

A Mobile Intervention to Reduce Pain and Improve Health (MORPH; PI)

Wake Forest University & Wake Forest School of Medicine

MORPH is a two-phase trial recruiting obese older adults with chronic pain. During the first phase, participants engage in a user-centered design process to ensure the usability of an mHealth suite that uses principles from social cognitive theory, the group dynamics literature, and just-in-time intervention to promote movement before one’s pain peaks each day and reduce sitting and body weight. The second phase is a 12-week randomized controlled trial wherein participants are randomized to receive the mHealth-supported home-delivered physical activity and weight loss intervention, or to a wait-list control. Responsibilities include design of the intervention and mHealth suite, and oversight of the iterative development process and randomized controlled trial.

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Time to Move (PI)

Wake Forest University

Time to Move is a 4-week pilot study funded by the Wake Forest Translational Science Center to examine the impact of sustained daily movement in the real world on inflammation, glucose regulation, and momentary assessments of affect and fatigue. Older adults are randomly assigned to receive an in-person and smartphone-based daily movement intervention focused on the accumulation of steps and postural shifts across the day, or to a health education control. Responsibilities include study design, development of the mHealth suite, and study oversight.

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Assessing the influence of an intergenerational movement and music program on stress, mood, and physical engagement among adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Wake Forest University & Wake Forest School of Medicine

This project assesses the impact of a Kindermusik movement and music program on symptoms   of dementia among older adults in adult daycare and markers of quality of life in the participants and their caregivers. Responsibilities include the design and administration of a smartphone assessment tool to collect ecological momentary data and Fitbit physical activity data, statistical analyses, and manuscript preparation.

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Relationship between Student Heart rate variability And Patterns of activity, stress, and Emotional affect (ReSHAPE; PI)

Wake Forest University

ReSHAPE is an ecological momentary assessment employing real-time smartphone assessments of stress and affect, accelerometry, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) to determine whether patterns of RSA moderate within-day and within-week stress responses in undergraduate students. Responsibilities include study design, smartphone assessment tool development, statistical analyses, manuscript preparation, and oversight of undergraduate research staff.

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Empowered with Movement to Prevent Obesity and Weight Regain (EMPOWER)

Wake Forest University & Wake Forest School of Medicine

EMPOWER is an 18-month trail recruiting obese older adults to participate in one of three arms, each receiving a structured weight loss intervention. One also receives an intervention targeting reductions in sedentary time, a second receives a structured exercise intervention, and a third receives both. All conditions participate in group counseling and also receive a smartphone application meant to provide ongoing individualized support. Responsibilities include the development of the smartphone app and the email/text messaging system, assistance in protocol development, participant interaction, and manuscript preparation.