Comparison of Trial Participants and Open Access Users of a Web-Based Physical Activity Intervention Regarding Adherence, Attrition, and Repeated Participation

Abstract

BackgroundWeb-based interventions are popular for promoting healthy lifestyles such as physical activity. However, little is known about user characteristics, adherence, attrition, and predictors of repeated participation on open access physical activity websites.ObjectiveThe focus of this study was Active-online, a Web-based individually tailored physical activity intervention. The aims were (1) to assess and compare user characteristics and adherence to the website (a) in the open access context over time from 2003 to 2009, and (b) between trial participants and open access users; and (2) to analyze attrition and predictors of repeated use among participants in a randomized controlled trial compared with registered open access users.MethodsData routinely recorded in the Active-online user database were used. Adherence was defined as: the number of pages viewed, the proportion of visits during which a tailored module was begun, the proportion of visits during which tailored feedback was received, and the time spent in the tailored modules. Adherence was analyzed according to six one-year periods (2003-2009) and according to the context (trial or open access) based on first visits and longest visits. Attrition and predictors of repeated participation were compared between trial participants and open access users.ResultsThe number of recorded visits per year on Active-online decreased from 42,626 in 2003-2004 to 8343 in 2008-2009 (each of six one-year time periods ran from April 23 to April 22 of the following year). The mean age of users was between 38.4 and 43.1 years in all time periods and both contexts. The proportion of women increased from 49.5% in 2003-2004 to 61.3% in 2008-2009 (P< .001). There were differences but no consistent time trends in adherence to Active-online. The mean age of trial participants was 43.1 years, and 74.9% were women. Comparing contexts, adherence was highest for registered open access users. For open access users, adherence was similar during the first and the longest visits; for trial participants, adherence was lower during the first visits and higher during the longest visits. Of registered open access users and trial participants, 25.8% and 67.3% respectively visited Active-online repeatedly (P< .001). Predictors of repeated use were male sex (odds ratio [OR] = 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.38) and increasing age category in registered open access users, and age 46-60 versus < 30 years (OR = 3.04, 95% CI = 1.25-7.38) and Swiss nationality (ORnonSwiss= 0.64, 95% CI = 0.41-1.00) in trial participants. Despite reminder emails, attrition was much higher in registered open access users compared with trial participants, with a median lifetime website usage of 0 days in open access users and 290 days in trial participants.ConclusionsAdherence, patterns of use, attrition, and repeated participation differed between trial participants and open access users. Reminder emails to encourage repeated participation were effective for trial participants but not for registered ope...

Social Media and Nurse Education: An Integrative Review of the Literature

“…In concrete terms, as already mentioned, the main advantages of using social media in education are: learning support, communication among students and between students and teachers, acquisition of new communication skills to be used in relations with patients. This orientation is also due to the increasing use of these tools in the health sector [1,3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].The second and extremely innovative theme to come out of the literature review concerns the ethical/professional principles that should be the basis for use of social media. On the one hand, there is a focus on professional aspects [19,21] that is, the need to define clear and shared guidelines for appropriate use of social media by organisations, health workers, professionals and trainers.…”

“…Indeed, many studies demonstrate the advantages of using social media in the health care field to promote the sharing of experiences, particularly in cases of chronic and degenerative diseases [5][6][7][8][9][10][11], and to adopt healthy lifestyles [12][13][14][15][16]. Many hospitals and health care facilities also use them to offer their services and promote loyalty to the treatment system [1,3,17,18].…”

Predicting Outcomes from Engagement With Specific Components of an Internet-Based Physical Activity Intervention With Financial Incentives: Process Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…Non-usage attrition was assessed in relation to use of more than one intervention component (i.e. use of the PA monitoring system and the website) and this improves upon previous studies which typically assess non-usage attrition in relation to website use only [71,[82][83][84][85][86].…”

Adherence and psychological attributes in dermatology

“…We followed the steps of the process of thematic text analysis (78) were interviewed by a psychologist with an MA degree. The interviews' length was [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] minutes. Transcripts were made from the answers and a text data file was created from them.…”

“…The Internet represents a promising channel for widespread dissemination of public health-oriented skin cancer risk and prevention information (37). Using e-mails to induce changes in behaviour is a widely used method (38)(39)(40). The telephone also can serve as an effective tool in the delivery of health care education messages (41).…”