Miriam Hospital & Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA.
Telemed J E Health. 2011 Dec;17(10):801-3. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2011.0055. Epub 2011 Oct 19.
Approximately one-third of adults in the United States are physically inactive. This is a significant public health concern as physical activity (PA) can influence the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer. To minimize these health risks, effective PA interventions must be developed and disseminated to the vast number of individuals who remain sedentary. Smartphone technology presents an exciting opportunity for delivering PA interventions remotely. Although a number of PA applications are currently available for smartphones, these "apps" are not based on established theories of health behavior change and most do not include evidence-based features (e.g., reinforcement and goal setting). Our aim was to collect formative data to develop a smartphone PA app that is empirically and theoretically-based and incorporates user preferences. We recruited 15 sedentary adults to test three currently available PA smartphone apps and provide qualitative and quantitative feedback. Findings indicate that users have a number of specific preferences with regard to PA app features, including that apps provide automatic tracking of PA (e.g., steps taken and calories burned), track progress toward PA goals, and integrate a music feature. Participants also preferred that PA apps be flexible enough to be used with several types of PA, and have well-documented features and user-friendly interfaces (e.g., a one-click main page). When queried by the researcher, most participants endorsed including goal-setting and problem-solving features. These findings provide a blue print for developing a smartphone PA app that incorporates evidence-based components and user preferences.
大约三分之一的美国成年人身体不活跃。这是一个重大的公共卫生关注，因为身体活动（PA）可以影响心血管疾病、糖尿病和某些形式的癌症的风险。为了最大限度地降低这些健康风险，必须开发和传播有效的 PA 干预措施，以覆盖大量久坐不动的个体。智能手机技术为远程提供 PA 干预提供了一个令人兴奋的机会。尽管目前有许多针对智能手机的 PA 应用程序，但这些“应用程序”并非基于已确立的健康行为改变理论，并且大多数应用程序不包含基于证据的功能（例如，强化和目标设定）。我们的目的是收集形成性数据来开发一个基于经验和理论的、包含用户偏好的智能手机 PA 应用程序。我们招募了 15 名久坐的成年人来测试三种现有的 PA 智能手机应用程序，并提供定性和定量反馈。研究结果表明，用户对 PA 应用程序功能有许多具体的偏好，包括应用程序自动跟踪 PA（例如，走的步数和消耗的卡路里）、跟踪 PA 目标的进展情况以及整合音乐功能。参与者还希望 PA 应用程序足够灵活，可以与多种类型的 PA 一起使用，并且具有详细记录的功能和用户友好的界面（例如，一键式主页面）。当被研究人员询问时，大多数参与者都赞成包括目标设定和解决问题的功能。这些发现为开发包含基于证据的组件和用户偏好的智能手机 PA 应用程序提供了蓝图。
