Bort-Roig Judit, Gilson Nicholas D, Puig-Ribera Anna, Contreras Ruth S, Trost Stewart G
Grup de Recerca en Esport i Activitat Física, Universitat de Vic, Barcelona, Spain,
Sports Med. 2014 May;44(5):671-86. doi: 10.1007/s40279-014-0142-5.
Rapid developments in technology have encouraged the use of smartphones in physical activity research, although little is known regarding their effectiveness as measurement and intervention tools.
This study systematically reviewed evidence on smartphones and their viability for measuring and influencing physical activity.
Research articles were identified in September 2013 by literature searches in Web of Knowledge, PubMed, PsycINFO, EBSCO, and ScienceDirect.
The search was restricted using the terms (physical activity OR exercise OR fitness) AND (smartphone* OR mobile phone* OR cell phone*) AND (measurement OR intervention). Reviewed articles were required to be published in international academic peer-reviewed journals, or in full text from international scientific conferences, and focused on measuring physical activity through smartphone processing data and influencing people to be more active through smartphone applications.
Two reviewers independently performed the selection of articles and examined titles and abstracts to exclude those out of scope. Data on study characteristics, technologies used to objectively measure physical activity, strategies applied to influence activity; and the main study findings were extracted and reported.
A total of 26 articles (with the first published in 2007) met inclusion criteria. All studies were conducted in highly economically advantaged countries; 12 articles focused on special populations (e.g. obese patients). Studies measured physical activity using native mobile features, and/or an external device linked to an application. Measurement accuracy ranged from 52 to 100% (n = 10 studies). A total of 17 articles implemented and evaluated an intervention. Smartphone strategies to influence physical activity tended to be ad hoc, rather than theory-based approaches; physical activity profiles, goal setting, real-time feedback, social support networking, and online expert consultation were identified as the most useful strategies to encourage physical activity change. Only five studies assessed physical activity intervention effects; all used step counts as the outcome measure. Four studies (three pre-post and one comparative) reported physical activity increases (12-42 participants, 800-1,104 steps/day, 2 weeks-6 months), and one case-control study reported physical activity maintenance (n = 200 participants; >10,000 steps/day) over 3 months.
Smartphone use is a relatively new field of study in physical activity research, and consequently the evidence base is emerging.
Few studies identified in this review considered the validity of phone-based assessment of physical activity. Those that did report on measurement properties found average-to-excellent levels of accuracy for different behaviors. The range of novel and engaging intervention strategies used by smartphones, and user perceptions on their usefulness and viability, highlights the potential such technology has for physical activity promotion. However, intervention effects reported in the extant literature are modest at best, and future studies need to utilize randomized controlled trial research designs, larger sample sizes, and longer study periods to better explore the physical activity measurement and intervention capabilities of smartphones.
技术的快速发展促使智能手机在体育活动研究中得到应用，尽管对于其作为测量和干预工具的有效性知之甚少。
本研究系统回顾了关于智能手机及其在测量和影响体育活动方面的可行性的证据。
2013年9月通过在Web of Knowledge、PubMed、PsycINFO、EBSCO和ScienceDirect中进行文献检索确定了研究文章。
检索使用了（体育活动或运动或健身）与（智能手机或移动电话或手机*）与（测量或干预）这些术语进行限制。纳入综述的文章要求发表在国际学术同行评审期刊上，或来自国际科学会议的全文，并且侧重于通过智能手机处理数据来测量体育活动以及通过智能手机应用程序影响人们增加活动量。
两名评审员独立进行文章筛选，并检查标题和摘要以排除范围外的文章。提取并报告了关于研究特征、用于客观测量体育活动的技术、应用于影响活动的策略以及主要研究结果的数据。
共有26篇文章（最早发表于2007年）符合纳入标准。所有研究均在经济高度发达的国家进行；12篇文章关注特殊人群（如肥胖患者）。研究使用手机原生功能和/或与应用程序链接的外部设备测量体育活动。测量准确率在52%至100%之间（n = 10项研究）。共有17篇文章实施并评估了一项干预措施。智能手机影响体育活动的策略往往是临时的，而非基于理论的方法；体育活动概况、目标设定、实时反馈、社会支持网络和在线专家咨询被确定为鼓励体育活动改变的最有用策略。只有五项研究评估了体育活动干预效果；所有研究均使用步数作为结果指标。四项研究（三项前后对照研究和一项比较研究）报告了体育活动增加（12 - 42名参与者，每天800 - 1104步，2周 - 6个月），一项病例对照研究报告了3个月内体育活动维持情况（n = 200名参与者；每天超过10000步）。
智能手机的使用在体育活动研究中是一个相对较新的研究领域，因此证据基础正在形成。
本综述中确定的研究很少考虑基于手机的体育活动评估的有效性。那些报告测量特性的研究发现不同行为的准确率处于中等至优秀水平。智能手机使用的一系列新颖且引人入胜的干预策略以及用户对其有用性和可行性的看法，凸显了该技术在促进体育活动方面的潜力。然而，现有文献中报告的干预效果充其量只是适度的，未来的研究需要采用随机对照试验研究设计、更大的样本量和更长的研究周期，以更好地探索智能手机在体育活动测量和干预方面的能力。
