School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK.
Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, Bradford BD9 6RJ, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 28;19(21):14067. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114067.
The school environment is an ideal setting for promoting physical activity (PA). Wearable activity trackers (wearables) have previously been implemented, in research, as intervention tools within the school-environment. However, the large-scale use and acceptance of wearables, in schools, is unknown.
This study distributed a cross-sectional survey to school staff to investigate the prevalence of child and adolescent wearable use in schools, including when and how they are used, and school staff's willingness to use them in the future (as implemented by school staff). This survey consisted of between 13 and 22 items, including closed-ended and open-ended questions. Closed-ended responses were displayed descriptively (wearable prevalence and characteristics), and open-ended qualitative responses were categorised using descriptive content analysis (how wearables are used).
1087 school staff provided valid responses. Of those, 896 (82.4%) had never used a wearable as a teaching or support tool for their students, and 120 (11%) currently used- and 71 (6.5%) had previously used- a wearable as a teaching or support tool for their students. When wearables were used, school staff implemented their use regularly and during physical education lessons or throughout the entire school day. Wearables were used to monitor or increase student's PA levels, or for student and staff educational purposes (e.g., academic learning, movement breaks). Most school staff were willing to use a wearable as a teaching or support tool to promote student's PA, and/or learning about PA, in the future.
This study is the first study to explore the widescale use and acceptance of children and adolescents using wearables in the school-setting. Findings may inform the development of future school-based interventions and public health initiatives for physical activity promotion, using wearables.
学校环境是促进身体活动（PA）的理想场所。可穿戴活动追踪器（wearables）以前曾作为干预工具在学校环境中应用于研究。然而，在学校中大规模使用和接受可穿戴设备的情况尚不清楚。
本研究向学校工作人员发放了一份横断面调查，以调查学校中儿童和青少年可穿戴设备的使用情况，包括何时以及如何使用，以及学校工作人员未来使用它们的意愿（由学校工作人员实施）。该调查由 13 到 22 个项目组成，包括封闭式和开放式问题。封闭式回答以描述性方式呈现（可穿戴设备的流行率和特征），开放式定性回答使用描述性内容分析进行分类（可穿戴设备的使用方式）。
1087 名学校工作人员提供了有效回复。其中，896 人（82.4%）从未将可穿戴设备用作教学或支持学生的工具，120 人（11%）目前正在使用，71 人（6.5%）之前曾将可穿戴设备用作教学或支持学生的工具。当使用可穿戴设备时，学校工作人员定期在体育课或整个学校日使用它们。使用可穿戴设备来监测或增加学生的 PA 水平，或用于学生和工作人员的教育目的（例如，学术学习、运动休息）。大多数学校工作人员愿意将来使用可穿戴设备作为教学或支持工具，以促进学生的 PA 和/或学习。
本研究首次探索了在学校环境中广泛使用和接受儿童和青少年使用可穿戴设备的情况。研究结果可能为未来基于学校的干预措施和促进身体活动的公共卫生计划提供信息，使用可穿戴设备。
