Mobile Health and Telehealth Interventions to Increase Physical Activity in Adolescents with Obesity: a Promising Approach to Engaging a Hard-to-Reach Population

BACKGROUND Promoting physical activity for adolescence is a global challenge in public health. Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors have been regarded to cause harmful chronic diseases to adolescent lifespan. However, high engagement in mobile technology for students may provide opportunities to help change adolescent unhealthy behaviors. Therefore, school sectors may play an important key role, such as implementing mobile health (mHealth) intervention to change students’ unhealthy behaviors and promote regular physical exercise behaviors, especially during the transition from adolescence to young adult. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore university students’ daily exercise patterns upon intervention of school-based mHealth project. METHODS Students’ physical exercise participation was recorded with students’ mobile application. With 4152 university freshmen (1476 males, 2676 females) and 335898 of their exercise records were analyzed (mean frequency of 38.2 ±16.10 in males, 45.1±10.81 in females) during the semester. RESULTS Under the school intervention project, students that exercised on Friday and Saturday was lower than that on other days, which indicated that the participation in exercise were more active on weekdays than on weekends. Among the participants who completed the requirement set by the school intervention project, both males and females used weekends to do exercise. On the other hand, overweight male university students participated in physical activity more than the requirement of the school intervention project and their exercise duration were found to be significantly higher than other participants. CONCLUSIONS Understanding a week of daily exercise patterns among youth upon the school mHealth Apps intervention can benefit in developing efficient and flexible projects to promote physical health and improve regular exercise participation in youth.

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Context-aware mobile health monitoring: Evaluation of different pattern recognition methods for classification of physical activity

2008 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society ◽

10.1109/iembs.2008.4650398 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Luciana C. Jatoba ◽

Ulrich Grossmann ◽

Chistophe Kunze ◽

Jorg Ottenbacher ◽

Wilhelm Stork

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Pattern Recognition ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Health Monitoring ◽

Context Aware ◽

Pattern Recognition Methods ◽

Mobile Health Monitoring

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Wearable-Based Mobile Health App in Gastric Cancer Patients for Postoperative Physical Activity Monitoring: Focus Group Study

JMIR mhealth and uhealth ◽

10.2196/11989 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. e11989 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jin-Ming Wu ◽

Te-Wei Ho ◽

Yao-Ting Chang ◽

ChungChieh Hsu ◽

Chia Jui Tsai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Gastric Cancer ◽

Focus Group ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Activity Monitoring ◽

Focus Group Study ◽

Physical Activity Monitoring ◽

Gastric Cancer Patients

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Customization in mobile health apps: explaining effects on physical activity intentions by the need for autonomy

Digital Health ◽

10.1177/2055207619888074 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 205520761988807 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nadine Bol ◽

Nina Margareta Høie ◽

Minh Hao Nguyen ◽

Eline Suzanne Smit

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Active Control ◽

Mobile Technology ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Autonomous Motivation ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Health Apps ◽

Mobile Health Apps

Given the widespread adoption and technical possibilities of mobile technology, mobile health apps could be potentially effective tools to intervene in people’s daily routines and stimulate physical activity. Self-determination theory and the motivational technology model both suggest that mobile technology can promote health behaviour change by allowing users to customize their online experience when using mobile health apps. However, we know very little about why and for whom customization is most effective. Using a between-subjects experimental design, we tested the effects of customization in mobile health apps among a convenience sample ( N = 203). We assessed the effects of customization on perceived active control over mobile health apps, autonomous motivation to use mobile health apps, and intention to engage in physical activity, and tested the moderating role of need for autonomy. Structural equation modelling showed that customization in mobile health apps does not increase perceived active control, autonomous motivation, or the intention to engage in physical activity. However, an interaction effect between customization and need for autonomy showed that customization in mobile health apps leads to higher intentions to engage in physical activity for those with a greater need for autonomy, but not for those with a lesser need for autonomy. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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The HOPE Pilot Study: Harnessing Patient-Reported Outcomes and Biometric Data to Enhance Cancer Care

JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics ◽

10.1200/cci.17.00149 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 1-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Alexi A. Wright ◽

Nikita Raman ◽

Patrick Staples ◽

Stephanie Schonholz ◽

Angel Cronin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Health Status ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Symptom Management ◽

Patient Reported Outcomes ◽

Perceived Effectiveness ◽

Activity Data ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Wearable Accelerometers

Purpose Integrating patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into clinical practice is an increasingly promising strategy for improving patients’ symptoms, communication, and clinical outcomes. The objective of the current study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived effectiveness of a mobile health intervention that was designed to collect PROs and activity data as a measure of health status. Patients and Methods This work was a pilot intervention with 10 patients with gynecologic cancers who received palliative chemotherapy. The HOPE (Helping Our Patients Excel) study used wearable accelerometers to assess physical activity and the Beiwe research platform to collect PROs, stratify patient responses by risk, provide tailored symptom management, and notify patients and clinicians of high-risk symptoms. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed through enrollment and adherence rates, and perceived effectiveness was evaluated by patients and oncologists at study completion. Results The approach-to-consent rate was 100%, and participants were 90% and 70% adherent to the wearable accelerometers and smartphone surveys, respectively. Participants’ mean daily step count was 3,973 (standard deviation [SD], 2,305 steps) and increased from week 1 (mean, 3,520 steps; SD, 1,937 steps) to week 3 (mean, 4,136 steps; SD, 1,578 steps). Active monitoring of participants’ heart rates, daily steps, and PROs throughout the study identified anomalies in participants’ behavior patterns that suggested poor health for two patients (20%). Patients and clinicians indicated that the intervention improved physical activity, communication, and symptom management. Conclusion A mobile health intervention that collects PROs and activity data as a measure of health status is feasible, acceptable, and was perceived to be effective in improving symptom management in patients with advanced gynecologic cancers. A larger, multisite, randomized clinical trial to assess the efficacy of the HOPE intervention on patients’ symptoms, health-related quality of life, clinical outcomes, and health care use is warranted.

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Using Mobile Applications to Increase Physical Activity: A Systematic Review

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17218238 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (21) ◽

pp. 8238

Author(s):

Laura Pradal-Cano ◽

Carolina Lozano-Ruiz ◽

José Juan Pereyra-Rodríguez ◽

Francesc Saigí-Rubió ◽

Anna Bach-Faig ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Mobile Applications ◽

Dietary Behaviour ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Full Text Review ◽

Mobile Health Applications ◽

Bibliographic Search ◽

Health Applications

Unhealthy diet and physical inactivity—major risk factors for the main non-communicable diseases—can be addressed by mobile health applications. Using an evidence-based systematic review design, we analysed studies on mobile applications to foster physical activity to determine whether they met the objective of increasing adults’ physical activity. A bibliographic search was conducted in October 2020 using PubMed, Cochrane Library Plus, Biomed Central, Psychology Database, and SpringerLink, retrieving 191 articles. After titles and abstracts were reviewed, 149 articles were excluded, leaving 42 articles for a full-text review, of which 14 met the inclusion criteria. Despite differences in study duration, design, and variables, 13 of the 14 studies reported that applications were effective in increasing physical activity and healthy habits as dietary behaviour. However, further longer-term studies with larger samples are needed to confirm the effectiveness of mobile health applications in increasing physical activity.

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Mobile health interventions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in the workplace: A systematic review

Digital Health ◽

10.1177/2055207619839883 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 205520761983988 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Sarah Ann Buckingham ◽

Andrew James Williams ◽

Karyn Morrissey ◽

Lisa Price ◽

John Harrison

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Sedentary Behaviour ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Technology Use ◽

Methodological Quality ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Behaviour Change Techniques ◽

The Impact

Objective This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of mobile health (mHealth) technology (including wearable activity monitors and smartphone applications) for promoting physical activity (PA) and reducing sedentary behaviour (SB) in workplace settings. Methods Systematic searches were conducted in seven electronic databases (MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and the Cochrane library). Studies were included if mHealth was a major intervention component, PA/SB was a primary outcome, and participants were recruited and/or the intervention was delivered in the workplace. Study quality was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) tool. Interventions were coded for behaviour change techniques (BCTs) using the Coventry, Aberdeen and London – Refined (CALO-RE) taxonomy. Results Twenty-five experimental and quasi-experimental studies were included. Studies were highly heterogeneous and only one was rated as ‘strong’ methodological quality. Common BCTs included self-monitoring, feedback, goal-setting and social comparison. A total of 14/25 (56%) studies reported a significant increase in PA, and 4/10 (40%) reported a significant reduction in sedentary time; 11/16 (69%) studies reported a significant impact on secondary outcomes including reductions in weight, systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol. While overall acceptability was high, a large decline in technology use and engagement was observed over time. Conclusions While methodological quality was generally weak, there is reasonable evidence for mHealth in a workplace context as a feasible, acceptable and effective tool to promote PA. The impact in the longer term and on SB is less clear. Higher quality, mixed methods studies are needed to explore the reasons for decline in engagement with time and the longer-term potential of mHealth in workplace interventions. Protocol registration: The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO: CRD42017058856

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