Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jul 19, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 23, 2018 - Aug 30, 2018
Date Accepted: Oct 29, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Exploring users’ experiences of the uptake and adoption of physical activity apps: a longitudinal qualitative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Although smartphone applications (apps) may support physical activity (PA), engagement with them tends to be low.
Objective:
This study aimed to examine potential users’ needs and preferences regarding their engagement with PA apps.
Methods:
A longitudinal, one-arm, qualitative study was conducted with potential PA app users. At baseline, participants (N=21) were asked to explore one of three randomly allocated PA apps whilst thinking aloud. Semi-structured interview techniques allowed participants to elaborate on their statements. After two weeks, follow-up interviews explored participants’ (N=17) lived experiences of real-world app use. Verbal reports from both time points were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.
Results:
Features that support self-regulation, those that address users’ exercise motives, and features that foster a sense of relatedness were considered important for engagement. Proactive and tailored features that integrate behavioural, psychological and contextual information to provide adaptive exercise plans and just-in-time support were expected to be important for engagement.
Conclusions:
App features that address users’ exercise motives, promote self-regulation, and fulfil users’ need for relatedness may promote engagement with PA apps. Tailored and proactive features were expected to promote sustained engagement.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.