JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Being physical active is essential for healthy ageing, but there is a tendency in older adults to become more physical inactive. Physical inactivity is exacerbated since COVID-19 epidemic. Lockdown measures and the application of information-based preventive measure of COVID-19 increase short-form video App users, and short-form video exposure including content exposure and the duration of exposure demonstrated important effects on youth’s health and health related behaviors. Despite more and more older adults started viewing short-form videos, less is known about the status of their short-form video exposure, nor the impacts of the exposure on their physical activity.

Objective:

This study aimed to describe physical activity related content exposure and the duration of short-form video exposure among older adults, and to quantify their impacts on step counts, low-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), respectively.

Methods:

We analyzed a subsample, i.e., 476 older women who used smart phones and installed short-form video Apps, of the baseline data collected from an ongoing cohort study named the Physical Activity and Health in Older Women Study (PAHIOWS) launched from March to June 2021 in Yantai, Shandong province, China. The information on short-form video exposure was collected by unstructured questions; physical activity related content exposure was finalized by professionals with Q-methodology, and the duration of exposure was transformed into hour(s) per day. Step counts, LPA and MVPA were assessed by ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers. Multiple subjective and objective covariates were assessed. Linear regression models were used to test the effects of short-form video exposure on steps counts, LPA and MVPA. MVPA was dichotomized into below 150 minutes per week and 150 minutes and above per week, and the binary logistic regression model was run to test the effects of short-form video exposure on the achievement of spending 150 minutes and above on MVPA.

Results:

Of 476 older women, 23.7% exposed to physical activity related short-form videos, and their daily exposure to short-form videos was 1.5 hours. Physical activity related content exposure increased minutes spending on MVPA of older women (B = 4.14, 95% CI 0.13 to 8.15); the longer duration of short-form video exposure was associated with reduced steps counts (B = -322.58, 95%CI -500.24 to -144.92) and minutes engaged in LPA (B = -6.95, 95% CI -12.19 to -1.71) and MVPA (B = -1.56, 95%CI -2.82 to -0.29). Neither content exposure nor the duration of exposure significantly increased or decreased the odds of older women engaging in MVPA for 150 minutes and above per week.

Conclusions:

Short-form video exposure has both positive and negative impacts on physical activity of older adults, efforts are needed to develop strategies to leverage benefits while avoid harms of short-form videos on physical activity among older adults.