"…is it normal to be this sore?":

Abstract

The importance of regular physical activity to overall health has been well established, yet U.S. adults are leading increasingly sedentary lives. Research suggests that lowering perceived barriers to physical activity is a critical part of interventions that encourage physical activity. In this paper, we describe the top five barriers-two of which have not been reported as principle barriers in the literature-that emerged from our systematic qualitative coding of an online forum used to support a threemonth healthy lifestyle intervention. Based on our analysis, we identify design considerations for technologies that encourage and support physical activity. Understanding the needs of a population is a critical step in the design process, and this paper offers unique insights for those working in this growing domain.

Staying the Course

“…Goals and Planning are mentioned as strategies to support lapse prevention. The most common techniques in this category focus on designing tools that support goal setting, in particular the variety of goals that people might have [19,30]. Research also suggests that technology should support revision of goals, in particular as behavior-change goals change [9].…”

“…Feedback and Monitoring emphasizes the value of feedback while a user progresses towards their goal, in particular in the case of using tracking technologies: feedback that increases self-efficacy and self-control, feedback on the progress that fits with participant routines [19,30]. Recommendations for design also include providing feedback on the outcomes of the behavior, which can highlight different benefits a person gains from performing the positive behavior (e.g.…”

“…money saved by not smoking) [19,27]. Other recommendations include providing feedback combined with comparison of different outcomes [30], or providing data visualizations to help people return to their behavior after a lapse [9]. The role of visualization can be important.…”

“…Substituting behavior through technology can offer alternatives and flexibility in prompted behaviors [30], and help with technology-driven habit formation [19].…”

“…Associations, in particular Prompts and Cues, refer to recommendations such as reminders, design of messages about behavior change in a personalized and noveltybringing manner, or choices of recommendations provided by others [7,16,27,30].…”