JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The Singapore Integrated 24-hour activity guide for children and adolescents was introduced to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours, including physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep and diet, to improve their metabolic health and prevent against non-communicable diseases. To support the dissemination and implementation of these recommendations, a user-friendly online resource was created to help children and adolescents adopt these behaviours in Singapore.

Objective:

The objectives were to assess the acceptability of the online resource in adoption of healthier lifestyle behaviours, and the change in the user's behaviours with use of this online resource.

Methods:

Participants aged 7 to 17 years were required to log their activity levels of the past 7 days monthly over a three-month period using the browser-based online resource, including information on the duration and frequency of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, length of sedentary behaviour, duration and regularity of sleep and food portions. User satisfaction, on the length, ease of use and relevance of the online resource was also recorded. Descriptive statistics and statistical analyses including paired t-test and McNemar’s test were carried out.

Results:

A total of 46 participants was included for analysis. For physical activity, the mean duration decreased from 95.3 to 62.0 minutes (P=.008) but the mean number of days increased from 3.3 to 4.1 days (P=.033). For sedentary behaviour, the mean recreational screen time remained stable at 123.9 to 123.7 minutes. For sleep, the average duration increased from 8.0 to 8.4 hours (P=.002), with 10% more participants meeting the recommended duration, and the number of days with regular sleep increased from 5.5 to 6.0 days (P=.021). For diet, the portion of carbohydrate consumed decreased from 40.8% to 37.2% (P=.041) and the number of days with water and unsweetened beverages consumed increased from 3.9 to 4.7 days (P=.038). About 90% of the participants reported that the online resource was relevant and easy to use, and mean rating for user satisfaction increased from 7.1 to 7.6 (P=.004), based on a 10-point Likert scale.

Conclusions:

The findings support the development of a dedicated online resource to assist the promotion and implementation of healthy lifestyle behaviours based on the Singapore integrated 24-hour activity guide for children and adolescents. This resource received favourable ratings and its use showed modest improvement in the participants’ behaviours over a three-month period.