scholarly journals An Examination of the Relationship Between Motivation, Physical Activity, and Wearable Activity Monitor Use

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-160
Author(s):  
Ciarán P. Friel ◽  
Carol Ewing Garber

Wearable physical activity (PA) monitors are widely promoted as a means to motivate people to be more active, but the motivational profile of users has never been assessed. This study’s purpose was to classify adult users by their motivational regulation scores and examine how these profiles were associated with moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA). Current users (N = 320) recruited across the United States completed a Web-based survey. Motivational regulations were measured using the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, and associations with MVPA were explored using bivariate correlations. MVPA was more highly correlated with autonomous rather than controlling regulations. A cluster analysis was conducted using the respondents’ motivational regulation scores. Five motivational profiles emerged from this analysis, and they differed significantly across motivation and MVPA scores. PA monitor users characterized by more autonomous motives presented with higher MVPA. As technology use increases, assessing the multidimensionality of PA monitor users’ motivation may add value when researching PA behaviors.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E Linke ◽  
Shira I Dunsiger ◽  
Kim M Gans ◽  
Sheri J Hartman ◽  
Dori Pekmezi ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The internet’s low cost and potential for high reach makes Web-based channels prime for delivering evidence-based physical activity (PA) interventions. Despite the well-studied success of internet-based PA interventions in primarily non-Hispanic white populations, evidence on Spanish-speaking Latinas’ use of such interventions is lacking. The recent rise in technology use among Latinas in the United States, a population at heightened risk for low PA levels and related conditions, suggests that they may benefit from Web-based PA interventions tailored to their cultural and language preferences. OBJECTIVE The goal of the research was to examine participant engagement with various features of an internet-based PA intervention for Latinas and explore how use of these features was differentially associated with adoption and maintenance of PA behavior change. METHOD Pasos Hacia la Salud tested a Spanish-language, culturally adapted, individually tailored, internet-based PA intervention versus a Spanish language, internet-based, Wellness Contact Control condition for underactive Latinas (N=205, mean age 39.2 [SD 10.5] years, 84% Mexican American). These analyses examined engagement with the website and explored how use was associated with adoption and maintenance of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behavior. RESULTS Overall, participants logged on to the website an average of 22 times (SD 28) over 12 months, with intervention participants logging on significantly more than controls (29 vs 14.7, P<.001). On average, participants spent more time on the website at months 1, 4, and 6 compared to all other months, with maximum use at month 4. Both log-ins and time spent on the website were significantly related to intervention success (achieving higher mean minutes of MVPA per week at follow-up: b=.48, SE 0.20, P=.02 for objectively measured MVPA and b=.74, SE 0.34, P=.03 for self-reported MVPA at 12 months, controlling for baseline). Furthermore, those meeting guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for PA at 12 months (≥150 minutes per week of MVPA) logged on significantly more than those not meeting guidelines (35 vs 20 over 12 months, P=.002). Among participants in the intervention arm, goal-setting features, personal PA reports, and PA tips were the most used portions of the website. Higher use of these features was associated with greater success in the program (significantly more minutes of self-reported MVPA at 12 months controlling for baseline). Specifically, one additional use of these features per month over 12 months translated into an additional 34 minutes per week of MVPA (goals feature), 12 minutes per week (PA tips), and 42 minutes per week (PA reports). CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that greater use of a tailored, Web-based PA intervention, particularly certain features on the site, was significantly related to increased PA levels in Latinas. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01834287; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01834287


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 762-769
Author(s):  
Ciarán P. Friel ◽  
Carol Ewing Garber

Background: There has been an explosion in the use of wearable activity trackers (WATs), but we do not fully understand who wears them and why. This study’s purpose was to describe the characteristics of WAT users and to compare current and former users. Materials and Methods: A variety of internet-based resources (eg, Craigslist, Facebook) were used to recruit current and former WAT users. Respondents completed a web-based survey, where they provided information on sociodemographic characteristics, health, physical activity behavior, and about their WAT use. Results: Of the 2826 respondents who gave informed consent, 70.8% (n = 2002) met inclusion criteria for this analysis. Respondents ranged from 18 to 81 years old (mean 32.9 ± 12.2 standard deviation) with 73.8% women. Most were current WAT users (68.7%), and the average length of WAT use overall was 9.3 ± 9.7 months. On average, current users wore the device for 3.7 months longer than former users. Compared to current users, former users had a lower body mass index (1.2 kg/m2 less), reported fewer medical conditions, shared data from their device less often, and received the device as a gift more frequently. Conclusions: Current and former users varied in their reasons for using a WAT and how they used their device. Differences identified between these groups support further exploration of associations between WAT users’ profiles and their physical activity behavior.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S779-S779
Author(s):  
Alycia N Bisson ◽  
Margie E Lachman

Abstract Modifiable health behaviors, such as physical activity and sleep quality are important for cognition throughout life. A growing body of research also suggests that engaging in enough physical activity is important to sleeping well. One recent study found that sleep efficiency mediates the relationship between physical activity and cognition. It is still unknown whether other metrics of sleep quality are mediators. The present study tested mediation in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, we found that those who were more physically active fell asleep faster, and had better executive functioning. In addition, those who were more physically active reported waking up fewer times during the night, and had better executive functioning and self-rated memory. Discussion will focus on the moderating role of gender and distinctions between findings with different measures of sleep, physical activity, and cognition.


Author(s):  
Daisuke Machida

There have been many reports indicating the relationship between gardening and health or healthy lifestyles among adults in developed countries all over the world. However, Japanese evidence is lacking. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between community or home gardening and health status or a healthy lifestyle using a web-based survey with Japanese elderly living in the community. A survey was conducted to gather data from 500 gardeners and 500 nongardeners aged 60 to 69. As a result, significant relationships were shown between community gardening and exercise habits, physical activity, eating vegetables, and connections with neighbors. Moreover, the significant relationships between home gardening and the following items were indicated: Subjective happiness, exercise habits, physical activity, sitting time, eating breakfast, eating vegetables, eating balanced meals, and connections with neighbors. No item demonstrated a significant relationship with gardening frequency. A significant relationship was demonstrated between gardening duration and health problems affecting everyday life. Further significant relationships were shown between gardening with others and subjective happiness, having a reason for living. In conclusion, promising positive relationships between community or home gardening and health or healthy lifestyles were indicated.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 6654
Author(s):  
Laura Simoni ◽  
Alessandra Scarton ◽  
Filippo Gerli ◽  
Claudio Macchi ◽  
Federico Gori ◽  
...  

Gait abnormalities such as high stride and step frequency/cadence (SF—stride/second, CAD—step/second), stride variability (SV) and low harmony may increase the risk of injuries and be a sentinel of medical conditions. This research aims to present a new markerless video-based technology for quantitative and qualitative gait analysis. 86 healthy individuals (mead age 32 years) performed a 90 s test on treadmill at self-selected walking speed. We measured SF and CAD by a photoelectric sensors system; then, we calculated average ± standard deviation (SD) and within-subject coefficient of variation (CV) of SF as an index of SV. We also recorded a 60 fps video of the patient. With a custom-designed web-based video analysis software, we performed a spectral analysis of the brightness over time for each pixel of the image, that reinstituted the frequency contents of the videos. The two main frequency contents (F1 and F2) from this analysis should reflect the forcing/dominant variables, i.e., SF and CAD. Then, a harmony index (HI) was calculated, that should reflect the proportion of the pixels of the image that move consistently with F1 or its supraharmonics. The higher the HI value, the less variable the gait. The correspondence SF-F1 and CAD-F2 was evaluated with both paired t-Test and correlation and the relationship between SV and HI with correlation. SF and CAD were not significantly different from and highly correlated with F1 (0.893 ± 0.080 Hz vs. 0.895 ± 0.084 Hz, p < 0.001, r2 = 0.99) and F2 (1.787 ± 0.163 Hz vs. 1.791 ± 0.165 Hz, p < 0.001, r2 = 0.97). The SV was 1.84% ± 0.66% and it was significantly and moderately correlated with HI (0.082 ± 0.028, p < 0.001, r2 = 0.13). The innovative video-based technique of global, markerless gait analysis proposed in our study accurately identifies the main frequency contents and the variability of gait in healthy individuals, thus providing a time-efficient, low-cost means to quantitatively and qualitatively study human locomotion.


Author(s):  
Calvin Tribby ◽  
Frank Perna ◽  
David Berrigan

Sun protective behaviors and physical activity have the potential to reduce cancer risk. Walking is the most common type of physical activity in the United States, but it is unclear whether sun protective behaviors differ by categories of walking, such as leisure versus transportation walking. We examined whether sun protective behaviors varied by category or duration of walking in the 2015 National Health Interview Survey (N = 26,632), age ≥ 18 years. We used logistic regression to estimate sunscreen use, sun avoidance, and sun protective clothing use by four categories of walking (no reported walking, transportation only, leisure only, or walking for both) and separately for walking duration for the general population and sun-sensitive individuals. Prevalence of sunscreen use varied across walking categories and the odds of use were higher with longer walking duration for transportation and leisure compared to those who reported no walking. Sun avoidance varied across walking categories and the odds of avoidance were lower with longer duration leisure but not transportation walking. Sun protective clothing varied across walking categories and the odds of use were higher for longer duration transportation, but not leisure walking. Data on the concurrence of walking and sun protection is needed to further understand the relationship between these health behaviors. By examining leisure and transportation walking, we found variations in sun protective behaviors that may provide important insight into strategies to increase sun protection while promoting physical activity.


2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy M. Page ◽  
Ching-Mei Lee ◽  
Nae-Fang Miao ◽  
Kirk Dearden ◽  
Athena Carolan

The relationship between physical activity and psychosocial discomfort was investigated among a sample of 2,665 high school students in Taipei, Taiwan. Results showed that both boys and girls who were physically inactive or engaged in infrequent physical activity scored higher than their more physically active counterparts on three measures of psychosocial discomfort—loneliness, shyness, and hopelessness. Results also showed that a high proportion of Taipei City and Taipei County high school students did not report frequent participation in vigorous physical activity and strengthening exercises. This study's findings are discussed in the context of implications for health education programs aimed at increasing physical activity in youth. Additionally, this study explores cross-national differences in loneliness, shyness, and hoplessness between this sample of adolescents and samples of adolescents in the United States and another Asian country.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Witry ◽  
Alejandro Comellas ◽  
Jacob Simmering ◽  
Philip Polgreen

BACKGROUND Telemedicine and electronic health (eHealth) interventions have been proposed to improve management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for patients between traditional clinic and hospital visits to reduce complications. However, the effectiveness of such interventions may depend on patients’ comfort with technology. OBJECTIVE The aim was to describe the relationship between patient demographics and COPD disease severity and the use of communication-related technology. METHODS We administered a structured survey about the use of communication technologies to a cohort of persons in the COPDGene study at one midwestern hospital in the United States. Survey results were combined with clinical and demographic data previously collected as part of the cohort study. A subsample of patients also completed eHealth simulation tasks. We used logistic or linear regression to determine the relationship between patient demographics and COPD disease severity and reported use of communication-related technology and the results from our simulated eHealth-related tasks. RESULTS A total of 686 patients completed the survey and 100 participated in the eHealth simulation. Overall, those who reported using communication technology were younger (P=.005) and had higher incomes (P=.03). Men appeared less likely to engage in text messaging (P<.001) than women. Patients who spent more time on tasks in the eHealth simulation had greater odds of a COPD Assessment Test score >10 (P=.02) and walked shorter distances in their 6-minute walk tests (P=.003) than those who took less time. CONCLUSIONS Older patients, patients with lower incomes, and less healthy patients were less likely to report using communication technology, and they did not perform as well on our simulated eHealth tasks. Thus, eHealth-based interventions may not be as effective in these populations, and additional training in communication technology may be needed.


Author(s):  
Narissa McCarty ◽  
Samantha Sayer ◽  
Susan L. Kasser

Abstract Background: Despite the benefits of regular physical activity (PA), most adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) are insufficiently active. Identifying the motivational correlates of PA is necessary to facilitate health behavior change. The extent to which the constructs of psychological need satisfaction and motivational regulations associate with self-determined PA in adults with the disease was examined. Methods: Individuals with MS were provided a link to a web-based survey. There were 290 respondents: 242 women and 48 men aged 22 to 71 (mean ± SD, 49.50 ± 12.05) years with primarily mild-to-moderate mobility impairment who completed the Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise scale, the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: Path analysis revealed that PA was best predicted by integrated regulation, competence, and mobility, explaining 28% of the variance in PA behavior. All three need satisfaction variables (relatedness, competence, and autonomy) and mobility impairment accounted for 43% of the variance in integrated regulation. Conclusions: Increasing satisfaction of the need for relatedness, competence, and autonomy can lead to more integrated and internally motivated PA engagement in adults with MS.


2011 ◽  
pp. 1301-1321
Author(s):  
James G. Anderson ◽  
E. Andrew Balas

The objective of this study was to assess the current level of information technology use by primary care physicians in the U.S. Primary care physicians listed by the American Medical Association were contacted by e-mail and asked to complete a Web-based questionnaire. A total of 2,145 physicians responded. Overall, between 20% and 25% of primary care physicians reported using electronic medical records, e-prescribing, pointof- care decision support tools, and electronic communication with patients. This indicates a slow rate of adoption since 2000. Differences in adoption rates suggest that future surveys need to differentiate primary care and office-based physicians by specialty. An important finding is that one-third of the physicians surveyed expressed no interest in the four IT applications. Overcoming this barrier may require efforts by medical specialty societies to educate their members in the benefits of IT in practice. The majority of physicians perceived benefits of IT, but they cited costs, vendor inability to deliver acceptable products, and concerns about privacy and confidentiality as major barriers to implementation of IT applications. Overcoming the cost barrier may require that payers and the federal government share the costs of implementing these IT applications.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document