JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Physical activity has a strong positive impact on both physical and mental health, and public health interventions often encourage walking as means to promote physical activity. Social connectivity, such as that among spouses, families, friends and colleagues highly influences physical activity. While technology-based interventions have some on influence human behavior, they have not been fully implemented and evaluated for their influence on walking through social connectivity.

Objective:

Our objective was to pilot test the organization of neighborhood walking clubs and use of an online application (Runkeeper) to encourage social connectedness and neighborhood cohesion and to increase physical activity.

Methods:

We used a convenience sampling method to recruit 46 adults from an urban location in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. We assigned participants to teams based on geographic location/neighborhood. Each group had 15 participants on average. The study protocol required participants to download our chosen app: Runkeeper and use it at least 6 times during the three month period. Runkeeper allowed us to monitor walking (distance and time). The participants took two self-administered online surveys before and after the intervention period. The surveys included standard measures to evaluate physical activity, social connectedness, perceived social support (GBS), and neighborhood cohesion (Buckner Neighborhood Cohesion Scale) prior to and following the intervention. Following the intervention we randmonly selected 14 participants to participate in post-intervention in-depth phone interviews to gain understanding of their experiences.

Results:

In this study Runkeeper was of limited feasibility as an application for measuring physical activity or promoting social connectedness. Data from the app recorded sparse and uneven walking behavior among participants. The qualitative interviews revealed that users experienced difficulty in utilizing the settings and features. By questionnaire, there was no change between pre-post assessments in walking minutes (b=-0.79, 95% confidence interval -4.0 to 2.4, p=0.63) or miles (b=-0.07, 95% confidence interval -0.15 to 0.01, p=0.09). We observed a pre-post increase in social connectedness and a decrease in neighborhood cohesion. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated that the psychosocial aspects of walking motivated them and helped to relieve stress. Interview results showed that our interviewees felt a greater virtual connection in their assigned groups and enhanced connections with friends and family members.

Conclusions:

Our study found that the web-based application created a virtual connection among walking group members, and its data sharing and ranking motivated walking. Participants felt that walking improved their mental health, helped to relieve stress, and made them feel more connected with friends or family members. In future studies, it will be important to utilize an app that integrates with a wearable physical activity device. There is also a need to develop and test intervention components that might be more effective in fostering neighborhood cohesion.