Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 7;18(4):1561. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041561.
Dog-walkers are more likely to achieve moderate-intensity physical activity. Linking the use of activity trackers with dog-walking may be beneficial both in terms of improving the targeted behavior and increasing the likelihood of sustained use. This manuscript aims to describe the protocol of a pilot study which intends to examine the effects of simultaneous use of activity trackers by humans and their dogs on the physical activity level of humans and dogs. This study uses nonprobability sampling of dog owners of age 25-65 ( = 80) and involves four parallel groups in an observational randomized controlled trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design, based on use of dog or human activity trackers for eight weeks. Each group consists of dog-human duos, in which both, either or none are wearing an activity tracker for eight weeks. At baseline and end, all human subjects wear ActiGraph accelerometers that quantify physical activity for one week. Commercial activity trackers are used for tracking human and dog activity remotely. Additional measures for humans are body composition and self-reported physical activity. Dog owners also report dog's weight and physical activity using a questionnaire. A factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) is used to compare physical activity across the four groups from baseline to week-10.
遛狗者更有可能达到中等强度的身体活动。将活动追踪器的使用与遛狗联系起来，无论是在改善目标行为方面，还是在提高持续使用的可能性方面，都可能是有益的。本手稿旨在描述一项试点研究的方案，该研究旨在检查人类和他们的狗同时使用活动追踪器对人类和狗的身体活动水平的影响。本研究采用 25-65 岁（=80）狗主人的非概率抽样，在一个基于使用狗或人类活动追踪器八周的 2×2 析因设计的观察性随机对照试验中，涉及四个平行组。每个组都由狗-人二人组组成，其中有或没有佩戴活动追踪器八周。在基线和结束时，所有人类受试者都佩戴 ActiGraph 加速度计，为期一周来量化身体活动。商业活动追踪器用于远程跟踪人类和狗的活动。对于人类，还有身体成分和自我报告的身体活动的额外测量。狗主人还使用问卷报告狗的体重和身体活动。使用析因协方差分析（ANCOVA）比较从基线到第 10 周四个组的身体活动情况。
