Effectiveness of an 8-Week Physical Activity Intervention Involving Wearable Activity Trackers and an eHealth App: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Health-promotion interventions incorporating wearable technology or eHealth apps can encourage participants to self-monitor and modify their physical activity and sedentary behavior. In 2020, a Calgary (Alberta, Canada) recreational facility developed and implemented a health-promotion intervention (Vivo Play Scientist program) that provided a commercially available wearable activity tracker and a customized eHealth dashboard to participants free of cost. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to independently evaluate the effectiveness of the Vivo Play Scientist program for modifying physical activity and sedentary behavior during the initial 8 weeks of the piloted intervention. METHODS Our concurrent mixed methods study included a single-arm repeated-measures quasiexperiment and semistructured interviews. Among the 318 eligible participants (≥18 years of age) registered for the program, 87 completed three self-administered online surveys (baseline, T<sub>0</sub>; 4 weeks, T<sub>1</sub>; and 8 weeks, T<sub>2</sub>). The survey captured physical activity, sedentary behavior, use of wearable technology and eHealth apps, and sociodemographic characteristics. Twenty-three participants were recruited using maximal-variation sampling and completed telephone-administered semistructured interviews regarding their program experiences. Self-reported physical activity and sedentary behavior outcomes were statistically compared among the three time points using Friedman tests. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data. RESULTS The mean age of participants was 39.8 (SD 7.4) years and 75% (65/87) were women. Approximately half of all participants had previously used wearable technology (40/87, 46%) or an eHealth app (43/87, 49%) prior to the intervention. On average, participants reported wearing the activity tracker (Garmin Vivofit4) for 6.4 (SD 1.7) days in the past week at T<sub>1</sub> and for 6.0 (SD 2.2) days in the past week at T<sub>2</sub>. On average, participants reported using the dashboard for 1.6 (SD 2.1) days in the past week at T<sub>1</sub> and for 1.0 (SD 1.8) day in the past week at T<sub>2</sub>. The mean time spent walking at 8 weeks was significantly higher compared with that at baseline (T<sub>0</sub> 180.34 vs T<sub>2</sub> 253.79 minutes/week, <i>P</i>=.005), with no significant differences for other physical activity outcomes. Compared to that at baseline, the mean time spent sitting was significantly lower at 4 weeks (T<sub>0</sub> 334.26 vs T<sub>1</sub> 260.46 minutes/day, <i>P</i><.001) and 8 weeks (T<sub>0</sub> 334.26 vs T<sub>2</sub> 267.13 minutes/day, <i>P</i><.001). Significant differences in physical activity and sitting between time points were found among subgroups based on the household composition, history of wearable technology use, and history of eHealth app use. Participants described how wearing the Vivofit4 device was beneficial in helping them to modify physical activity and sedentary behavior. The social support, as a result of multiple members of the same household participating in the program, motivated changes in physical activity. Participants experienced improvements in their mental, physical, and social health. CONCLUSIONS Providing individuals with free-of-cost commercially available wearable technology and an eHealth app has the potential to support increases in physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior in the short term, even under COVID-19 public health restrictions.

Isolating unique variance in mental health outcomes attributable to personality variables and childhood emotional abuse

“…First, overarching stresses related to the context of the pandemic may have weakened these links. Second, almost all students surveyed were not only exercising less but also sitting more than they had been before the onset of the pandemic (see also Gallè et al, 2020;McCormack et al, 2021). Recent work suggests that time spent sitting is a strong predictor of mental health during the pandemic (Cheval et al, 2021;Runacres et al, 2021).…”